Ohio; first fruits of the ordinance of 1787

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EDITED BY

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OHIO

FIRST FRUITS OF THE ORDINANCE
OF 1787

BY

RUFUS KING

With a Supplementary Chapter by Theodore Clarke Smith ,
Assistant Professor of American History
in Ohio State University .

BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
(Cbe Ifttoettfibe Cambridge

1903

Copyright, 1888,

By RUFUS KING.

Copyright, 1903,

By HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.

All rights reserved

The Riverside Press , Cambridge , Mass., V. S. A.
Electrotyped and Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Company.

PUBLISHERS’ NOTE.

In issuing a new edition of Ohio , it has seemed
desirable to add a supplementary chapter dealing
with the history of Ohio since the Civil War.
This chapter has been written by Theodore Clarke
Smith, Assistant Professor of American History
in the Ohio State University.

4 Park Street, March , 1903.

IN HONOR OP

(tbe Mtn

WHO FOUNDED THE TERRITORY NORTHWEST OP
THE RIVER OHIO, A. D. 1787.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

L Introductory 1

II. The Wilderness . . „ „ „ . 10

III. Under which King? 29

IV. The British Conquest . 46

V. Annexed to Quebec ...... 80

VI. The Moravians 119

VII. The Northwest Territory . 161

VIII. The Early Settlers ...... 189

IX. St. Clair’s Administration and the Indian War 229

X. Ohio becomes a State • 262

XI. The Pioneers . 296

XII. War and Debt — 1812-20 . 320

XIII. Progress 346

XIV. Ohio in the War for the Union . . . 368

XV. Ohio since the Civil War . . . . 401

APPENDIX.

No. 1. The King’s Proclamation in 1763 : an Ex-

tract 419

No. 2. Nathan Dane as to the Authorship of the

Ordinance of 1787 422

No. 3. Ballad : “ Sainclaire’s Defeat ”... 427
No. 4. Letter of General Harrison . . . 430

No. 5. The Grape and its Gradual Failure in Ohio 432

OHIO.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY.

Ohio — now third among the States in her
strength of population — was admitted as one of
the United States in 1803, and in the order of
time, therefore, is seventeenth in the galaxy of
the Union.

In the broad domain between the Ohio River,
the Mississippi, and the chain of northern lakes
known of old as the Northwest Territory, this
State comprehends most of the space between the
Ohio River and Lake Erie ; and usually is esti-
mated to be about two hundred miles square, an
area of 25,600,000 acres. The Domesday-book,
or tax duplicate of the State, for the year 1883,
showed that 26,713,421 acres of land were re-
turned in that year, to which the acres of the
cities and towns should be added. The returns
for the year previous were 25,507,981 acres, and
those of 1884 were but 24,971,170 ; rendering it
somewhat difficult to ascertain officially just how
large a state Ohio is.

2

OHIO.

Its northerly extreme is at the northeast cor-
ner, close upon the forty-second parallel of lati-
tude. Its most southerly point is in the bend of
the Ohio River, opposite the boundary line be-
tween West Virginia and Kentucky, or about
thirty-eight and a half degrees north latitude.

The landmark of the State is the ridge of
hills dividing the basin of the Ohio from that of
the great lakes. It begins east of Buffalo, and,
following the general course of the lake shore,
enters Ohio near the line between the counties of
Ashtabula and Trumbull, thence extending diag-
onally south of west across the State. The con-
tiguity of these basins is such that Lake Chau-
tauqua, a feeder of the Ohio, is but nine miles
from Lake Erie, and the heads of streams which
flow into it are not more than three miles from
that lake.

Lake Chautauqua is said to be 726 feet above
Lake Erie ; but as the Ohio River at Pittsburg is
but 172 feet above that level, it would seem that
this must be more nearly the height of Lake
Chautauqua above the ocean. At the Muskingum
the level of the Ohio at low water is eight feet
below that of Lake Erie. At the Scioto it is
ninety feet below the lake, and at Cincinnati 133
feet. The lake level being 564 feet above that of
the ocean, the altitudes at these points will thus
appear.

The State, therefore, lies in a zone and environ-
ments which, with other conditions to be men-

INTRODUCTORY .

3

tioned, afford a double climate and temperature,
signally favorable to a variety of soil and pro-
ducts. The summers of southern Ohio, and the
winters in the northern part, are sometimes in-
temperate, but the spring and autumn, in both
sections, compensate for the excess. The equable
temperature which Lake Erie diffuses upon the
adjoining country has proved of immense value to
orchards, vineyards, and pastures, while in the
southern part of the State these have suffered
much deterioration in fifty years.

The geological formation of the State is most
interesting, but cannot adequately be sketched in
this narrow compass, and from recent develop-
ments will, perhaps, require to be reconsidered.
The outcrop produces the elevated table land ex-
tending from Pennsylvania southwesterly toward
the heads of the Scioto, Miami, and Auglaise riv-
ers, crowned with broken hills, which, according
to railway and geological reports, rise in Richland
County to an elevation of 802 feet, and in Logan
County 773 feet above the lake level, or 1,366 feet
in the former, and 1,337 feet in the latter, above
the ocean. These, if correct, are the highest
points in the State, though not so reported in
early times.

The water-shed, thus traversing the State, has
divided the rivers uniformly into a course north-
wardly to the lake or southwardly to the Ohio ;
of incalculable advantage in the early growth of
the country, when these waterways were almost

4

OHIO.

the only channels for transporting its heavy pro-
ductions to a market. Their heads are so closely
interlaced in the highlands, that the Indians and
early traders easily transferred their light canoes
from one to the other. The great valley of the
Maumee, or Miami of the Lakes, and those of
the Sandusky, the Cuyahoga, and several lesser
streams, drain the northern part of the State into
Lake Erie and the St. Lawrence. The Maho-
ning, Muskingum, Hocking, Scioto, and the two
Miamis carry off the waters of a larger surface to
the Ohio and the Gulf of Mexico. These latter
streams were once so considerable that, in the
freshets, valuable cargoes of provisions were sent
regularly to New Orleans in the Kentucky boats
better known as the flatboat, and in keel-boats.
In the early period there was a confident theory
that the streams increased as the country was
settled. It seems many severe droughts had
occurred. The mouth of the Little Miami, as Gen-
eral Butler reported in 1783, was literally dried
up. Captain Trent related that in crossing over
from Mad River to the mouth of the Scioto
River, in 1752, his horses and dogs died of thirst,
not a stream or spring being found. But time
has reversed the theory. Of all these rivers, the
Maumee barely holds its own.

This happy intervening of rivers, valleys, and
uplands, with a soil nowhere sterile, but gener-
ally rich or fertile, covered with forests or open
woodlands, and spreading out in many parts into

INTRODUCTORY .

5

savannas or natural meadows, formerly known as
prairies, wet or dry, struck the hardy pioneers as
a land made for their happiness, and unhappily,
also, as being entirely insufficient for them and
the natives both. The dry prairies, such as the
Pickaway Plains, were prolific of crops. Wet
prairies were found here and there in all parts
of the State, but most extensively in the central
and northwest quarter. They were luxuriantly
clothed in grasses, wild rice, and flowering plants,
changing with the seasons, and of gaudiest hues.
Clumps and groves of the black-jack were inter-
spersed, like islands, through their flat and ocean-
like expanse. Beautiful as they were, their fea-
tures were often tiresome to the traveler, who,
after his day’s journey through the soft mire, fan-
cied in looking around that he was just where he
had started in the morning. The southeastern
quarter of the State, on the contrary, is serrated
with hills, and though not so fertile contains hid-
den treasures of mineral, which in later days
have justified its settlers as wiser than they knew.
All parts of the State were peculiarly rich in
game. The river, the lake, and the inland com-
bined to form a country which the red man and
the white alike admired and coveted as a garden
of delights. No wonder that the savage died
rather than yield it ; no wonder that enterprising
spirits in the old settlements were eager to enjoy
a land so attractively pictured by all who came
back from it ; the more the pity that, between

6

OHIO.

these conflicting passions, justice and mercy
could not have upheld the pious Moravians in
their effort to devise a way for an equal enjoy-
ment by both. But as this was not to be, we
shall find nature’s bounteous gifts enhanced to the
white race by the wisdom of Congress in the
first laws which it impressed upon the new soil ;
most vital of which was the great ordinance of
1787, and the provision inserted by Mr. Dane,
almost fortuitously it seems, at the last moment
of its passage, extirpating slavery, already intro-
duced by the French, and dedicating the soil to
the labor of freemen ; an edict by no means so
highly prized among the early settlers as now.

Another measure, which added incalculably to
this influence, was the law by which the public
lands were sold in small tracts and at low prices
by the government directly ; free from the exac-
tions of speculators, who might have engrossed
all for their own profit. It was, nevertheless, a
circumstance of much import that, by the large
grants of land previously conceded by the govern-
ment to the holders of Virginia military certifi-
cates, and to the Ohio and the Miami companies,
the first colonization of the State, in different
quarters, by bodies of emigrants of several and
distinct origins, imparted characteristics and pecu-
liarities which even now strongly diversify the
people of these different sections.

In less than a century Ohio has become more
populous than all the thirteen colonies when they

IN TROD UCTORY .

7

declared independence. Such a growth would be
marvelous but for the equal strides with which her
sister states of the Northwest Territory are ad-
vancing under the same auspices and policy. But
what renders the growth of Ohio phenomenal, as
compared with these her sister states, is, that for
forty years Ohioans have been largely an emi-
grating people. Vast numbers of them have,
like their fathers, gone farther West for cheaper
land and new homes, and Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
and the states on the Pacific contain well-nigh a
million of the sons of Ohio or their descendants.

The city population has already outrun the
ordinary proportion of the interior states. Be-
sides Cincinnati, with an estimated population of
300,000, and Cleveland with its 200,000, there are
fifteen cities having more than 10,000 each ; chief
of which are Columbus, the capital, Dayton, and
Toledo. But the population and wealth of the
State are still principally agricultural, and when
the public lands shall ultimately be taken up, in
the enormous market kept open by the emigrant
and naturalization laws, the superior productive-
ness of the old territory of the Northwest, as a
food-supplier, will probably be found unequalled
by any portion of the continent.

The changes wrought upon the face of the
country are equally striking. The Indian, not-
withstanding the noble effort of the Moravians,
has vanished. Not one of his villages is left.
The great forests, the beautiful prairies, the flow-

8

OHIO.

ing rivers and their fresh springs, have shrunk
away, and the farm, the village, and the city have
so far supplanted them that already forestry asso-
ciations are anxiously agitating measures to save
what is left. Eighty-eight counties, each with its
court-house and cluster of local institutions, divide
and dot the administrative map of the State.
The great national road, earliest link of Ohio
with the Atlantic States, and two canals uniting
the lakes and the Ohio, invaluable still, though
attempts have been made to destroy them, were
the early pride of the State. Then came the era
of turnpikes, and this in turn was succeeded by
the railway system, which, numbering more than a
hundred companies, great and small, has rendered
every county in the State accessible by rail.
Among these railways are links in the vast trans-
continental lines; pointing out the narrow belt
between the Ohio and Lake Erie, at the Pennsyl-
vania line, as the natural passage between the
oceans.

The rise of Ohio, in less than a century, from
these wilds, will be the subject of the following
chapters. They will not form a mere chronicle of
the changes which have occurred since the foun-
dation of the State ; rather, they are sketches in-
terweaving with annals some account of the
early combination of emigrants, events and inci-
dents, which has led to the development of the
State and the traits of its people, as they now
present themselves. Such sketches may be com

INTRODUCTORY .

9

nected without being strictly continuous. The de-
tails, so abundantly supplied in the many local
histories of the State, must necessarily be re-
stricted by the proportions of this volume. As
a centenary memoir, its purpose is to set forth
the foundations of the State rather than its full
growth.

CHAPTER II.

THE WILDERNESS.

The dawn of the history of Ohio appears about
the middle of the last century. There are stories
and traditions, and some imperfect relations of an
earlier date, but they are too uncertain to be at
all credible as history.

At that period the region now occupied by the
State of Ohio, which has become the gateway to
the great West, was an almost unbroken wilder-
ness, without ruler or law, and tenanted only by
the wild beasts or a race of wilder men. It was a
vast waste of luxuriant nature, where, amid scenes
apparently of primeval solitude, the explorer
might have thought that war’s invading foot had
never trod. Wild and neglected as these soli-
tudes seemed to be, there were visible monuments
of a prehistoric age, and also buried relics of ex-
tinct races of men and animals. Throughout the
eastern valley of the Mississippi, and to some ex-
tent west of it, there are huge works of men not
only without a history, but of whom the red men
first met by the Europeans had neither tradition
nor legend. They were dwelling among these
ruins without the least curiosity as to their build-
ers. The keenest efforts of explorers to penetrate

THE WILDERNESS.

11

their origin and antiquity are still baffled. The
most remarkable works of the people known as
the “ Mound Builders ” are probably to be found
in Ohio ; notably those in or near the valleys of
the Miamis, the Scioto, and the Muskingum. It
is supposed that ten thousand of them, large and
small, are dispersed over the State. It is certain
that some of them are not of the prehistoric age.
Later races, and to some extent the modern In-
dians, have not only utilized the older mounds for
burial purposes, but appear to have constructed
some for themselves. A difference is observed,
also, between the lighter forms of embankment, in
the works near Lake Erie, and the heavy and
more elevated ramparts in the middle and south-
ern parts of Ohio. This has led to the conclusion
that the former, which are found also in New
York and further east, were the base of stock-
ade forts built by the later races. The extensive
lines at Newark and Portsmouth, each of which
amounts to about fifteen miles of lineal embank-
ment, and the heavy works at Fort Ancient,
Circleville, Chillicothe, and Marietta, though not
so extended as the former, are the most impor-
tant. Military men, such as General Wayne and
General Harrison, were of opinion, however, that
some of these works were built for enclosures
rather than as fortifications.

The exploring party of Major Long to the St.
Peter’s reported a singular observation that in
these ancient fortifications the ditch is found

12

OHIO.

inside of the rampart. They report that their
examination of Fort Necessity, the little earth-
work thrown up by Major Washington in his
first encounter with the French and Indians in
1754, showed this peculiarity, and hence was in-
ferred to “ comport better with Indian warfare.”
Bishop Madison, a diligent inquirer into these an-
cient works, regarded this peculiarity as proving
that they were not for military purposes. Colonel
Whittlesey, in his survey of the works at New-
ark, found a circular embankment twelve feet
high, with an interior ditch seven feet in depth.
The ditch inside of the parapet, he stated, is not
uncommon.

The mounds are the most numerous as well as
most promising objects for exploration. It is to
their contents, mainly, that researches as to the
key or clue to the mysterious builders must be
directed ; and they are various, not only in their
forms and dimensions, but in the purposes which
they are supposed to have served. Some, like
those at Cahokia and Grave Creek, are of huge
proportions, the former having a base of six acres
and height of ninety feet, flattened at the top to
a platform of five acres. Some are sepulchres ;
others were used for altars or religious rites ;
those of a truncated form, or terraces, are sup-
posed to have been for residences ; and many are
extended on lines, or in an order, indicating that
they were connected with defensive works, as
advanced posts or signal stations.

THE WILDERNESS.

13

There has been little discrimination in the
claims made for the antiquity of all these works,
but even as to those agreed to be the most
archaic there is much dispute. Judge Force,
who has diligently studied the various hypothe-
ses, is inclined to consider the lapse of a thousand
years sufficient to explain all the possible condi-
tions for construction which have been presented.
The absence of all history or trace of the people
who constructed them he does not regard as sig-
nificant, inasmuch as it would be entirely ac-
counted for by the successive annihilation of each
other by transient tribes or nations sweeping
over the continent, and that a few centuries only
would suffice for complete obliteration. A sim-
ple circumstance referred to by him disposes of
the argument drawn from the existence of the
aged trees surmounting many of the mounds and
embankments. No little hillocks are found at
these spots to indicate the uprooting of an older
growth of trees prostrated either by storms or
the decay of age.

Until recently, the labors of antiquarians had
unearthed little save bones and ashes of the dead,
flint and stone implements, shells and rude pot-
tery, denoting remains of a people superior in
some respects, perhaps, to the modern Indian,
but not so much advanced as the Mexicans, or
even as the Natchez, who are supposed by some
to be their relicts. Copper utensils and orna-
ments, some of them plated, had also been found,

14

OHIO.

and the best of these are said to be in the collec-
tion of the Historical Society of Wisconsin.

The recent systematic researches of the Pea-
body Museum of Archaeology at Cambridge,
Mass., have been rewarded with richer and more
important revelations as to the lost race than any
which had previously been brought to light. As
a result of the explorations by the Museum staff
and some local savans , mounds in the northeast
part of Hamilton County, near Cincinnati, have
been found to contain, besides human remains
and implements and pottery of the common sort,
a deposit of thousands of small pearl beads, and,
what is esteemed of higher significance, “ masses
of iron,” manufactured and unmanufactured.
This discovery, and the treasure trove thus ex-
humed by superior skill under the very eyes of
the people of Ohio, and now to be taken away
from them, are of sufficient interest to justify a
full extract from the report of Mr. Frederick W.
Putnam, curator of the Museum : —

“ On the estate of Mr. Michael Turner, in the north-
eastern corner of Anderson Township, near the Little
Miami River, is a group of earthworks which has
proved to be in several respects the most important
and interesting of the many which have been investi-
gated in Ohio. The whole group embraces thirteen
mounds and two earth circles, all of which are enclosed
by two circular embankments, one of which is on a hill
and is connected with the other by a graded way. Sev-
eral of the mounds contained altars or basins of burnt

THE WILDERNESS.

15

clay, on two of which there were literally thousands of
objects of interest. Two of these altars, each about
four feet square, were cut out and brought to the Mu-
seum. Among the objects from the altars are numer-
ous ornaments and carvings unlike anything we have
had. One altar contained about two bushels of orna-
ments made of stone, mica, shells, the canine teeth of
bears and other animals, and thousands of pearls.
Nearly all these objects are perforated in various ways
for suspension. Several of the copper ornaments are
covered with native silver, which had been hammered
out into thin sheets and folded over the copper.
Among these are a bracelet and a bead, and several of
the spool-shaped objects which, from discoveries made
in other mounds of this group, I now regard as ear or-
naments. One small copper pendant seems to have
been covered with a thin sheet of gold, a portion of
which still adheres to the copper, while other bits of it
were found in the mass of materials. This is the first
time that native gold has been found in the mounds,
although hundreds have been explored, and the small
amount found here shows that its use was exceptional.
The ornaments cut out of copper and mica are very in-
teresting and embrace many forms : among them is a
grotesque human profile cut out of a sheet of mica.
Several ornaments of this material resemble the heads
of animals, whose features are emphasized by a red
color, while others are in the forms of circles and
bands. Many of the copper ornaments are large and
of peculiar shape; others are scrolls, scalloped circles,
oval pendants, and other forms. There are about
thirty of the singular spool-shaped objects or earrings
made of copper, like the two described in the last re-

16

OHIO.

port. Three large sheets of mica were on this altar,
and several finely chipped points of obsidian, chalce-
dony, and chert were in the mass of materials. Sev-
eral pendants cut from micaceous schist are of a unique
style of work. There are also portions of a circular
piece of bone, over the surface of which are incised fig-
ures, and flat pieces of shell similarly carved. Several
masses of native copper were on the altar.

“ But by far the most important things found on thh
altar were the several masses of meteoric iron and the
ornaments made from this metal. One of these is half
of a spool-shaped object or ear ornament, like those
made of copper with which it was associated. Another
ear ornament of copper is covered with a thin plating
of the iron, in the same manner as others were cov-
ered with silver. There is also a folded and corru-
gated band of iron, of the same shape and of about the
same size as the band of copper found in a mound in
Tennessee, and figured in the last report. Three of
the masses of iron have been more or less hammered
into bars, as if for the purpose of making some orna-
ment or implement, and another is apparently in the
natural shape in which it was found. As all these iron
masses were exposed to great heat on the altar, they
have become more or less oxidized ; and two of them
were so much changed in external character that sev-
eral good mineralogists, as well as myself, mistook
them for limonite, or bog iron, which had probably
formed since the mound was erected. The discov-
ery of iron in the mound was of course a matter of
great interest, from whichever side it was viewed, and it
was therefore a matter of the first importance that its
character should be accurately determined. For this

THE WILDERNESS.

17

purpose I have been fortunate in securing the coop-
eration of Dr. L. P. Kinnicutt, assistant in chemistry
in Harvard College, who has become much interested
in the work, and has made careful analyses of all the
masses and objects of iron. Dr. Kinnicutt has found
that each and all contained nickel, and that all the iron
is unquestionably meteoric. As this is the first time
that objects made of meteoric iron have been deter-
mined from the mounds, it is of great interest, and it
will now be necessary to examine anew the statements
made by Hildreth and Atwater in relation to the traces
of iron which they found in mounds in Ohio over sixty
years ago.

u It is worth recapitulating here that native gold, sil-
ver, copper, and iron were all found on the altar of the
large mound in this group, and that all were manufac-
tured into ornaments simply by hammering. A mass
of lead ore, galena, was found in another mound of this
group. On another altar, in another mound of the
group, were several terra-cotta figures of a character
heretofore unknown from the mounds/’

This discovery suggests possibilities which may
prove marvelous. The prodigious number of pearls
found in this tomb, the tomb probably of some
grandee, would be incredible were it not that
larger and finer specimens have been taken from
the Little Miami River. But vastly larger num-
bers were plundered by De Soto from the graves
at Cutifachiqui (Savannah river), said by the
Gentleman of Elvas, a veracious man, to have
amounted to “ fourteen arrobas (three hundred
and ninety-two pounds), and little babies and

18

OHIO.

birds made of them,” a point which may have
some bearing upon the Peabody discovery. The
pertinent question, however, is not so much as to
the numbers, but how the perforation of the beads
was accomplished. Were the lapidaries, whose
wheels and drills did such cunning work, of the
same race as the builders of the mounds ?

Whence or whither these people proceeded is
an unsolved problem. From the concentration
of the heavier and apparently more military
works in southwestern Ohio, we can conceive
that here they finally encountered the foe,
equally obscure, who overwhelmed them. Ex-
termination seems to have overtaken both alike.
The subject admits of such an infinite deal of
conjecture and credulity, that for the present it
must be relegated to a place with the unknown
status of the “Ice Sheet” and “Boulder” pe-
riods in Ohio history.

Still another mystery of the wilderness re-
mains in the traces of the huge beast described
by Cuvier as the Mastodon giganteus , and by
Buff on as the Mastodon Ohioticus , though desig-
nated also by the latter as of the mammoth spe-
cies. The most noted trace of this creature is at
Big Bone Lick, a salt lick or spring in Kentucky,
situated near the Ohio River, and about twenty-six
miles below the Big Miami. The great deposit
of bones found imbedded in the mud at this spot
suggests that it may have been the meeting-place
for terrific battles as well as refreshment, though

THE WILDERNESS .

19

possibly these are remains of the sick rather than
of the vanquished. Explorations and removal of
the bones preserved in this mineral soil were
made at an early period. Longueil, the French
commander at Detroit, sent one of the tusks to
Paris in 1739. Captain Gist, in his exploration
of Ohio in the winter of 1750-51, obtained two
jaw-teeth, each more than four pounds in weight,
and like fine ivory when cleaned. Robert Smith,
a trader with whom he lodged at the Tawighti
fort (Piqua), had found them seven years pre-
viously at Big Bone Lick, and assured Gist that
the rib -bones of the largest of these animals
whose remains he found there were eleven feet
in length, and the skull six feet in breadth across
the eye sockets. Several of the horns, as he
styled the tusks, were more than five feet in
length and as much as a man could carry. The
French Indians, he reported, had taken away
many of these remains. George Croghan, the
Western deputy of Sir William Johnson, and also
Captains Hutchins and Gordon of the British
army, distinguished as Western geographers, all
visited the place before the revolutionary war,
and from their reports and specimens the scientific
men of Europe derived their principal information.

The immense proportions of the skull described
by Smith to Gist are confirmed by the size of tusks
found elsewhere, and much larger than those
which he has reported. Several have been un-
earthed in the deep gravel bed on which part of

20

OBiO.

the city of Cincinnati is built. The largest was
exposed in excavating this bank for the building
of a public school house, on the north side of
Third Street, between Elm and Plum streets. It
was ivory-like, slightly curving towards a point,
and almost perfect as it lay horizontally in the
gravel, about twelve feet below the surface. Both
ends were worn off by percolation. What re-
mained was fully seven feet in length, and the
lines, if produced, would have extended it to nine
feet. Being saturated with water, and unskill-
fully handled, this rare and valuable specimen fell
to pieces before getting into proper hands.

Descending to the times when the history of
Ohio begins to emerge, in a fragmentary way, it
would seem that late in the seventeenth century,
or early in the eighteenth, the Indian tribes had
become distributed through the country now com-
prised in Ohio in about the following ranges:
The part east of the Muskingum, together with
the country on the upper Ohio and Alleghany
rivers, was held by the Mingoes (Senecas). The
Wyandots (Hurons), after being driven from the
St. Lawrence across upper Canada to the north-
west and then back again, had seated themselves
opposite Detroit, but a large body of them had
also taken their abode on the Sandusky River, ex-
tending as far as the Scioto ; and at the time of
Gist’s tour had their chief village on the Tusca-
rawas, near its junction with the Wahlhonding.
Certain clans of the Miamis, known then as the

THE WILDERNESS.

21

Twightwees (Tawightis or Tawixtis), probably
Piankeshaws and Ouiatanons (Weas), extended
across from the Wabash to the upper valleys of
the Big and Little Miami rivers, having a fort and
large town on or near the present site of Piqua.
The Shawanees were on the Ohio, Muskingum, and
Scioto, their chief town being on both sides of the
Ohio, at the mouth of the Scioto. The Delawares
at this time were scattered among the Mingoes,
Shawanees, and Wyandots. There were Kicka-
poos, and bands of Northwestern Indians, Potta-
watomies, Ottawas, and Chippewas in villages on
the Maumee. There were also small detached
bands or villages of Cherokees and Caughnawagas ;
the former in Ross County, the latter in the West-
ern Reserve.

These were the local tribes, but none of them
were indigenous. There was a theory, presently
to be explained, that all of them were admitted to
this region by permission of the Five Nations. The
latter had not yet become Six Nations ; the Tus-
caroras not being incorporated with them until
about the year 1713. The Mingoes were not a
nation, but refractory wanderers or outlaws of the
Five Nations, chiefly Senecas and Cayugas ; the
Senecas being the western flank of the Five Na-
tions, and extending from the Genesee to the
Alleghany River. These borderers became known
as the Mingoes ; a name of bad repute, as readers
of the Leather Stocking tales will remember, and
derived from Mengwe, an appellation given by

22

OHIO.

the Dutch to the Mohawks or Maquas, and col-
lectively to the entire confederation. Soon after
Gist’s tour, the Wyandots withdrew from the
Muskingum in favor of their grandfathers, the
Delawares. These were to have been blessed, in
their new home, by the civilizing power of the
Moravians, had fate so permitted it to be. The
Shawanees, in like manner, were let into the upper
valley of the Scioto, and thus around to its head-
waters and the beautiful plains between these and
the upper branches of the Little Miami.

Prior to the period of this occupation, it is to
be gathered from the French relations that two
powerful nations, the Eries (or Chats, as styled
by the French) and the Andastes, held the entire
country south and west of the Five Nations ; ex-
tending on Lake Erie from the Sandusky east-
ward to the mountains, and perhaps to the Sus-
quehanna. Between them and the Five Nations
long and bloody wars were kept up with varying
issues ; the latter at one time, it would seem,
being nearly overcome. But it is all vague. The
only authentic fact known is the statement of
Father Lemoine, that the Iroquois (Five Nations),
at his “council of peace” with them in August,
1654, were in deep lamentation over the death of
their great chief Anencraos, who had been taken
prisoner in the new war they were then waging
against the Cat Nation. About the year 1660 it
is supposed the Five Nations, by a rapid invasion,
surprised and drove the Eries into their fortifica-

THE WILDERNESS .

23

tions, somewhere in northeastern Ohio or Pennsyl-
vania, and carrying it by storm exterminated the
warriors, and, in the happy manner which they
had of reinforcing themselves, took off and adopted
the women and children into their own tribes.
The Andastes, who are supposed to have occupied
western Pennsylvania, were conquered and dis-
posed of not long afterwards in like manner.
This dominion of the Five Nations, of whom the
Senecas were the most numerous, now became
extended down the Alleghany and Ohio rivers to
the Muskingum, actually and beyond dispute.

This deadly war, and its consequences, acquired
an important bearing upon the subsequent dis-
putes as to which of the European powers had
rightful dominion of the country out of which
Ohio was formed. Toward the middle of the
eighteenth century, the English cabinet awoke to
the importance of the trans-Alleghany region, and
the advantage which the French had been quietly
gaining by their rapid process of preoccupation.
It suited their purpose, therefore, taking counsel
from Sir William Johnson and Governor Pownall,
two of the most intelligent and vigorous of their
colonial agents, to set up the claim that the Iro-
quois, or Five Nations, were the conquerors and
masters of the country north of the Ohio as far
west as the Mississippi ; and as these conquerors
had acknowledged themselves subjects of Great
Britain, and were expressly recognized as such
by France in the 15th Article of the Treaty of

24

OHIO.

Utrecht (1713), that power had an actual para-
mount title and possession which defeated all
the pretensions which France had set up through
her little colonies and trading-posts at the West.
Upon the question there was a long diplomatic
contention, theory against fact, in which neither
party would yield. On this side of the Atlantic,
Governors Pownall, Colden, and DeWitt Clinton
strenuously maintained the New York or English
claim, but were ably controverted by General
Harrison, Dr. Daniel Drake, and half and half by
Butler in his u History of Kentucky.” Finally the
question was renewed in Congress when the ces-
sion by New York was asserted to have given the
United States a title in the Northwest Territory
superior to the claim of Virginia. This obdurate
dispute, although put an end to by the cession made
by Virginia, has an historical interest, if nothing
more, of some concern to Ohio.

It is to be observed that none of the tribes
occupying the Ohio country in the last century,
nbt even the Mingoes, conceded the claim thus set
up by England on the ground of the Iroquois con-
quest. This presents a puzzle which I propose to
examine in a further chapter. The unhappy con-
sequences of the treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768
sufficiently attest this. The defiant claim of the
tribes from that time was, that the land was
theirs, not by permission of the Five Nations, nor
by that of the whites under their imaginary
dominion by discovery, — a title always incompre-

THE WILDERNESS.

25

hensible to the Indians. They were the foes who
for nearly thirty years barred the Ohio River by
an unrelenting and bloody war upon the pioneers
of Kentucky and the Northwest. This barrier
neither treaty nor force could remove until it was
swept away by General Wayne and his irresistible
legion.

Numbers of white people, it must be noted, had
early in the century, and long before this out-
break, become dispersed among the Ohio tribes in
various ways and with diverse fortunes. First of
all were the French traders, the coureurs des hois ,
the stragglers and deserters who drifted on the
Maumee, the Sandusky, and perhaps the Cuya-
hoga. They left no annals nor trace, unless it
be the axe-marks upon trees, or the rusty relics of
guns and skillets, which occasionally puzzle the
antiquarians on the lake shore. There were many
refugees also who had left the settlements under
a cloud, and some of these renegades became the
most ferocious enemies of the early settlers.
More than all were the captives, white and black,
who had been spared from the stake and adopted
as members of the tribes. Two of these are
especially known, — the “ white woman ” after
whom the Wahlhonding originally was named ;
and Colonel James Smith. The former is intro-
duced to us by Captain Gist as Mary Harris, cap-
tured in New England, when a child, by the
French Indians, and with her Indian husband
and children brought in their migrations to the

26

OHIO .

West. 44 She remembers,” says Gist, “ they used
to be very religious in New England, and wonders
how the white men can be so wicked as she has
seen them in these woods.” Colonel Smith was
captured in boyhood, near Fort Duquesne, and
brought up among the Indians in northern Ohio.
His account of his captivity and life among
them, their customs, manners, and character, is
probably the most truthful, intelligent, and in-
teresting narrative ever written on the subject.
It is an admirable picture of the Indian at home,
or in repose.

In the curious fusion of the whites with the
Indians which was going on at this early period,
there were hermits also ; people who sought the
wilderness for quiet or seclusion. They were not
only unmolested, but were treated by the red men
with superstitious regard. A wandering, kindly
specimen of this sort was John Chapman, or
Johnny Appleseed, as the early settlers named
him, who came to the Muskingum late in the last
century, and spent his time chiefly in scattering
nurseries of apple-trees about the country for the
benefit of the coming people. Indians and whites
equally respected his quaint, inoffensive life and
ways. With nothing but his axe and bag of apple-
seed, or sometimes, as the settlements grew, a few
Swedenborgian tracts, he made his pilgrimages
far into the wilderness, where he cleared or dead-
ened spots in the woods, in which he sowed his
seed, and surrounding them with hedges of brush,

THE WILDERNESS .

27

to keep off the deer, left them as gifts to those
who should follow. Many an orchard far out in
the Firelands, and at the heads of the Scioto, the
Miamis, and the Wabash, was planted from these
seedlings.

Two interpolations, apparently, have worked
themselves into current histories of the early In-
dian age for which it is difficult to find any origi-
nal authority. One relates to a victory supposed
to have been gained by the Iroquois, in a great
battle fought in canoes on Lake Erie, over the Hu-
rons, according to one theory, but by another over
the Miamis. The other of these apocryphal re-
ports represents the Shawanees as having been
originally occupants of the country on Lake Erie,
and driven thence by the Iroquois in the sixteenth
century. That was the period, according to the
French relations , when the Eries, or Chats, occu-
pied the country and were exterminated by the
Iroquois. The Shawanees claimed, moreover, to
be a southern people, and certainly had strong
marks of such on origin. At the time when they
are thus supposed to have been driven from Lake
Erie, they were slowly moving northward from
Georgia or Florida. One body of them was found
by La Salle in 1682 on the Wabash; another,
about the same time, was inhabiting the lower
country between the Delaware and Susquehanna,
and was supposed to have come northward along
the east side of the Alleghany Mountains. But,
recurring to the western migration of the whites, it

28

OHIO .

will probably be found that it was much ante-
rior to the period which is usually reckoned in
our histories. The “ first-born white child ” was
much earlier and more numerous in Ohio than
the antiquarians and centennial orators allow.

CHAPTER III.

UNDER WHICH KING?

In the days of its subjection to European sover-
eignty, Ohio formed but an indistinct part of the
trans- Alleghany wilds, which for a century were
assumed by England, France, and Spain each as
belonging to their dominion.

According to our historians and jurists, all
English proprietorship in America is traced so
implicitly to those famous and inexpensive char-
ters which the kings of England, in the seven-
teenth century, lavished upon their courtiers and
other loving subjects, that it seems profane to
doubt them. But the charters themselves, like
the elephants which in the ancient cosmogony
upheld the corners of the world, require some sup-
port. And it may be seriously doubted whether
an altogether undue importance has not been
given to the British claim of dominion over North
America through the discovery by the Cabots.
It has been wrapped in chapters of verbiage, but
the whole story, or the kernel of it, is contained
in a single passage from Ramusio, in which Se-
bastian Cabot is introduced as saying that having
been stopped by an “ island, and not thinking to

30

OHIO.

find any other land than that of Cathay, and from
thence a way to India, I sailed on to the north, to
see if I could find any gulf turning in that direc-
tion.” Then follows the discovery.

“ Sailing along the coast, I found the land still continent to
the fifty-sixth degree under our pole. And seeing that there the
coast turned toward the east, despairing to find the passage, I
turned back again and sailed down by the coast of that land to-
ward the equinoctial (ever with intent to find the said passage to
India), and came to that part of this firm land which is now called
Florida, where my victuals failing I departed from thence and
returned into England, where I found great tumult among the
people, and preparation for the wars in Scotland, by reason
whereof there was no more consideration had to this voyage.” 1

It is surprising that the “ gift of a continent ”
should have rested upon a foundation so weak and
slender. The United States might assert a far
more plausible sovereignty over the “ Antarctic
continent ” which was discovered in 1840 by the
exploring expedition under Commodore Wilkes.
Eighty years elapsed before Queen Elizabeth’s
patents were issued to Gilbert and Raleigh, of
which nothing survived but the name of Virginia,
and the introduction of tobacco into England. No
possession of the English was established until the
charter of King James which was granted in 1606
to the London and Plymouth companies, and was
followed in 1609 by the great patent under which
the region northwest of the Ohio River was as-
sumed to be within the chartered limits of Vir-
ginia. This was taken to be accomplished by its
1 Biddle’s Memoir.

UNDER WHICH KING?

31

boundary on the Atlantic, “ and thence extending
from the seacoast of the precinct aforesaid up into
the land throughout, from sea to sea, west and
northwest.”

How little the king and the crown officers knew
of the land which they were pretending to parcel
out, appears not only from the vague and senseless
boundaries thus prescribed, but even more from
the fact that Captain John Smith, with all his
geographic lore, went up the Chickahominy to
find this western sea, and that so intelligent a man
as Governor Spotswood, a century later, fancied
that he had descried the Ohio River from the
summit of the Blue Ridge.

These circumstances indicate how blindly Eng-
land and her colonists were groping their way
into the back country, which, before their eyes
were opened, other nations and more searching
and active adventurers had explored, and to a
large extent appropriated its possession and en-
joyment.

The charters, however, though they could not
grant what the king did not possess, had this vir-
tue : they were a license to explore, and gave title
to the discoveries made, so far as occupied, but
no more. Tried by this principle, neither Great
Britain nor her colonies had, in the seventeenth
century, acquired any pretensions northwest of
the Ohio River by right of discovery or by char-
ter. In the next century her statesmen con-
structed another title through what was denom-
inated the Iroquois Conquest.

32

OHIO.

De Soto, though not the discoverer of the
Mississippi, was the first of the Spanish captains
who acquired a hold upon it. Starting from
Tampa with six hundred and twenty men, he had
been marching and counter-marching two years
through the country, northward and westward,
when in April, 1541, he suddenly came upon the
great river, somewhere, probably, near Helena.
He crossed, and after marching another year
through Arkansas or southern Missouri, fighting
incessant and inhuman battles with the Indians,
and struggling against climate, swamps, starva-
tion, and disease, with a fortitude almost super-
human, he was driven back to the river. Crippled
as he was, he might have made himself master of
the Mississippi. Had he but known his opportu-
nity, Spain would have gained the prize which two
centuries later she coveted in vain. But over-
come with hardships, and in a fever of remorse for
the peril into which he had drawn his men, he
died there. Wrapped in a winding-sheet filled
with sand, his body was sunk in the Mississippi
at night, to conceal from the savages that the
“ Child of the Sun ” was mortal. It was fitting
that the monster river, which might have been
his glory, should thus swallow up the man who
had contemned its power. So ended the only ef-
fort of Spain in that century on the Mississippi.

To finish at once with her subsequent preten-
sions, when Spain acquired the territory west of
the Mississippi by gift from France in 1763, she

UNDER WHICH KING?

33

kept a jealous eye thenceforward upon the east-
ern valley. She most ungenerously demanded, as
a condition of joining the alliance with France
to support the war for American independence,
that the United States should renounce any at-
tempt to acquire the Mississippi, or the territory
west of the Alleghany Mountains. Foiled in this,
she sent an expedition in 1781 from St. Louis,
which captured the little British fort at the mouth
of the river St. Joseph’s, in Michigan. In the
negotiations at Paris in August, 1782, for the
treaty of peace and independence, the Count
D’ Aranda, on the part of Spain, objected to the
demand of the United States for the boundary of
the Mississippi. He asserted that, by the con-
quest of West Florida and the British posts on
the lower Mississippi and in Illinois (St. Joseph’s),
the river had passed to the Spanish arms. He
then proposed a line from Florida to the mouth of
the Kanawha River, thence to extend across Ohio
to the west end of Lake Erie and up the lakes to
the head of the Mississippi, as the western limit
of the United States.

This critical negotiation, and the skillful man-
ner in which the duplicity of the Spanish and
French ministers was baffled by Messrs. Jay,
Adams, and Franklin, need not be recounted. It
is enough to say that the St. Joseph’s was the
nearest approach made by Spain to Ohio.

Far to the north, long before the commissions
even of Gilbert and Raleigh were issued, the

34

OHIO.

French had penetrated the continent by way of
the St. Lawrence. Cartier had sailed up to Ho-
chelaga (Montreal) in 1534-35. De Monts, under
a patent from Henry IV. in 1604, the first grant
of American soil ever made, extending from the
40th to the 46th degree of north latitude, had
settled Port Royal, now Annapolis, in Acadie.
Champlain in 1608, acting for De Monts, founded
and fortified Quebec, and soon afterwards was
appointed vice-governor of the province of New
France, the territory of which extended indefi-
nitely up the St. Lawrence.

Here the way was traced which first led to
Ohio. This faithful and untiring servant of the
king, by his administration of thirty years, richly
earned his title of the “Father of Canada.” But
unhappily for France, his first step was an error,
which ultimately involved the loss of the French
dominion in America. Finding his neighbors, the
Hurons and the Algonquins, embroiled in war
with the Iroquois or Five Nations, the powerful
confederacy stretching from Lake Champlain to
the Niagara River, he with a few of his musket-
eers accompanied the Hurons two successive years
in raids up the Sorel and the shores of Lake
Champlain. In these battles the Iroquois were
dismayed and routed by the firearms now encoun-
tered by them for the first time. Numbers of
them were slain or made prisoners and tortured
by the exultant Hurons, in revenge for the cruel-
ties long wreaked upon them by the ferocious

UNDER WHICH KING ?

35

Iroquois. The latter cared little for the warriors
lost, but these defeats were a blow to their prowess
which they never forgave nor forgot. The deadly
hostility thus engendered against the French ren-
dered the Iroquois not only the allies and strong
defense of the Dutch and afterwards the English
of New York in the French and Indian wars, but,
what is more to the present subject, they became
an insuperable barrier between the French and
the valley of the Ohio. In these wars, it may be
mentioned in passing, they drove the Hurons
from their country between the St. Lawrence and
Lake Huron to the wilds beyond the northern
lakes. Here again the Hurons were driven back
by the fierce tribes of Sioux to the shores of Lake
St. Clair and the Detroit River. Thence a large
body of them who became hostile to the French
migrated early in the last century to Ohio. From
their original name of Wendats they became bet-
ter known as the Wyandots.

For sixty years the French were shut off from
the upper St. Lawrence and the Lakes Ontario
and Erie by the incessant assaults of the Iroquois,
their communication with the Northwest being
restricted to the route by the Ottawa and Macki-
nac. The first glimpse which we get of the coun-
try south of Lake Erie is from the relation of a
mission in 1654 by Fathers Dablon, Le Moine,
and Chaumont among the Senecas^ the most west-
erly of the Five Nations. At a u Council of
Peace ” held by Le Moine, the warriors were

36

OHIO.

mourning and he “ wiped away their tears ” for
the loss of Annencroas, a great chief, in a war
then raging between the Iroquois and the Eries
or Chats, a nation occupying the country south of
Lake Erie. Probably this fixes the period of the
final struggle in which the Eries are supposed to
have been exterminated, and the country between
that lake and the Ohio River utterly depopulated
and laid waste. As an incident in this mythic
age of Ohio, we learn that the Eries were called
Chats by the French, from wearing coon-skins,
the raccoon being taken by the French for cats.
This animal abounded on the shores and islands
of Lake Erie.

Soon after the conquest of the Eries, the Iro-
quois suffered a terrible check from an invasion
by the Marquis de Tracy and a large body of
French regular and colonial troops. Their coun-
try was overrun, their towns were burned, and
terms dictated by which the confederacy for a
time was completely humbled.

At this time appeared the celebrated Robert
Cavelier, better known as the Sieur de La Salle,
who was to be the chief factor in opening and
extending the French dominion over the lower
lakes and the valley of the Mississippi. It were
worth a chapter to follow his wonderful career,
but a few incidents only can be referred to in con-
nection with our subject.

In intercourse with the Senecas as a fur-trader,
he heard of a river beyond their country (west-

UNDER WHICH KING?

37

ern New York) which they called the Hohio.
“ Following it seven or eight months,” they told
him, “ one would come where the land was cut
off,” meaning that it fell into the sea. This to
La Salle’s ardent disposition meant the Vermilion
Sea, and at once the way to China and Cathay
flashed upon him and became the engrossing
theme of his speculation. The Sulpitian fathers,
Dollier and Galinee, were just starting upon a
mission to the Ottawas. La Salle obtained leave
to accompany them, and they consented to his re-
quest to go by the south shore of Lake Ontario,
hoping that the Senecas would guide them to the
Ohio. The wily Iroquois disappointed them, but
the Indians at the west end of Lake Ontario were
more ready. To their astonishment, at Grand
River, on their way across to Lake Erie, they met
with Joliet, the famous explorer, who, with Father
Marqette, four years later discovered the upper
Mississippi. He was now returning from the
west by way of Lake Erie, being the first white
traveler on its waters. This meeting resulted in
the separation of the Sulpitians from La Salle,
Joliet advising them that the spiritual wants of
the Ottawas were a more proper object for them
than the exploration of the Ohio. La Salle, dis-
comfited and sick, returned as was supposed to
La Chine, the name which the Montreal wits had
derisively given to his establishment. The first
effort for the discovery of the Ohio therefore
failed. The rebuff of La Salle was followed by

38

OHIO.

his disappearance, or rather by a blank in his
history for the next four years. It has been in-
geniously surmised that he spent this interval in
an expedition to the Ohio ; and two anonymous
memoirs recently found by M. Margry in the
archives of the Department of the Marine and
Colonies at Paris, which are published in his re-
cent compilation of historical documents, support
this theory. But whether La Salle ever explored
or even visited the Ohio River is left in as much
doubt as ever. His casual allusions to the Ohio,
which these writers relate, rather tend to the con-
trary. The very fact that no report from La
Salle himself of his discovery or descent of the
Ohio has yet come to light, must be regarded as
strong evidence that he was never there.

Two years later we find in the history of Vir-
ginia a similar failure of the English in approach-
ing the Ohio. Captain Thomas Batts, with a
party of English and Indians, was sent by Gov-
ernor Berkeley in September, 1671, “ to explore
and find out the ebbing and flowing of the water
behind the mountains, in order to the discovery of
the South Sea.” After a march of thirteen days
from “ Appomatok” through the forests and over
steep mountains, they came down upon waters run-
ning west of northwest through pleasant hills and
rich meadows. They encountered a river “ like
the Thames at Chelsea,” and following its course
came, on the sixteenth day, to “ a fall that made
a great noise,” probably the Falls of Kanawha.

UNDER WHICH KING ?

39

Here the journey ended, the Indians refusing to
go further, under the pretense that they could
catch no game on account of the dryness of the
ground and the sticks ; but really from dread of
the tribes down that river, from whom, as they
reported, travelers never returned. In the coun-
try below, they also reported, there was a great
abundance of salt. His escort being unmanage-
able, Captain Batts was compelled to return. La
Salle with such an opportunity would soon have
found the Ohio River.

Ohio seemed unapproachable, and so far as can
be inferred from its surroundings was, for the last
forty years of the seventeenth century, a depopu-
lated waste. The Five Nations, after overcoming
the Eries, had carried their wars westward, scat-
tering the smaller tribes and driving the Illinois
Indians, as well as the Miamis and Shawanees,
beyond the Mississippi. Flushed with these tri-
umphs, they turned back upon the Andastes, in
Pennsylvania, and about 1676 had extirpated
them, destroying the warriors and amalgamating
the women and children with their own people.

But during this contest it would seem the Mi-
amis, Shawanees, and Illinois tribes were ventur-
ing back to their former positions. The Five
Nations nevertheless boasted themselves the con-
querors and masters of the West as far as the
Mississippi, and by their victories over the Cataw-
bas and Cherokees asserted a conquest also of
Kentucky and West Virginia.

40

OHIO.

This summary will explain the politico-historical
controversy referred to in a former chapter. Gov-
ernors Pownall, Colden, and De Witt Clinton,
also Sir William Johnson and Doctor Franklin,
regarded the rights of the Five Nations to all the
hunting grounds of the Ohio valley “ as fairly es-
tablished by their conquest in subduing the Shawa-
nees, Delawares, Twightwees (Miamis), and Illi-
nois, as they stood possessed thereof at the peace
of Ryswick in 1697.” General Harrison, on the
contrary, in a discourse before the Historical
Society of Ohio in 1839, took issue with these dis-
tinguished authorities. Relying upon his long
intercourse and acquaintance with the Miamis
and Shawanees, it was his conclusion, reviewing
the whole mass of proof, that, without any rea-
sonable doubt, “ the pretensions of the Five Na-
tions to a conquest of the country from the Scioto
to the Mississippi are entirely groundless.”

This conclusion was mainly based upon the
immemorial possession by the Miamis, as General
Harrison conceived, of the country where he
found them, extending from the Wabash to the
Scioto. But a mine of information, since devel-
oped by the historical documents published under
the auspices of the State of New York and by
M. Margry, now proves a misapprehension as to
the real history of the Iroquois conquest, on both
sides, in this discussion.

There was a conquest extending to the Missis-
sippi, but it appears that about the close of the

UNDER WHICH KINGf

41

seventeenth century there was a total reversal,
and that the Iroquois were driven back to their
original confines by a combination of the Illinois
tribes with the Miamis, the Shawanees, and
other nations of the Northwest, effected by La
Salle and his brave lieutenant, Tonti. La Salle
was permitted by his allies to erect a fort far up
the Illinois River in the winter of 1682-8B, behind
which the confederated tribes were rallied. At
this the Iroquois took offense, and in March,
1684, during the absence of La Salle in France,
again burst in fury upon the Illinois. They as-
saulted the fort (St. Louis) three times, but were
repulsed. After a siege of six days they re-
treated, pursued by the Miamis and their confed-
erates.

It was the first check they had suffered, and
proved their last appearance in Illinois. Their
expeditions westward fell back year by year.
The Miamis and the Shawanees, as well as the
Ottawas and Pottawatomies, steadily gained
upon them and moved their villages eastward, till
the hatchet was buried finally at the great assem-
bly of Indian nations gathered by De Callieres
in 1701 at Montreal. From that time the Five
Nations, potentially, lost their hold of the coun-
try west of the Muskingum. The Miamis and
the Shawanees had already advanced into Ohio
from their original country between Lake Michi-
gan and the Wabash.

But just as the power of the Iroquois was wan-

42

OHIO.

ing the hand of England began to be shown.
Colonel Thomas Dongan was the first of the pro-
vincial governors who pursued an aggressive pol-
icy against the French at the West, and really
originated the pretension, afterward so boldly
pressed by the English, that their sovereignty
and title extended wherever the Five Nations
had carried their conquests. Though he was a
Roman Catholic, he prohibited the French mis-
sionaries from residing among the Five Nations,
to stop their intrigues. He brought matters to
an issue by encouraging the New York traders to
insist upon the right of trading up the great
lakes, where for more than twenty years the
French monopoly had been undisputed.

In the summer of 1686 the traders made the
experiment, with good fortune, reaching Mack-
inac while Durantaye, the commandant, and his
garrison were absent on a military expedition.
Their cheap goods and large stock of rum capti-
vated the Chippewas so that they swept the mar-
ket of its furs, and retired before Durantaye ap-
peared. This lucky venture turned the heads of
the New Yorkers, and a still larger convoy
started the next year under the governor’s pat-
ronage, Major Patrick McGregor and a party of
soldiers being sent as a guard. The boats passed
up Lake Erie, divided into two flotillas, a week
or two apart.

But the French had been aroused by the sub-
reptive performance of the year before, and also

UNDER WHICH KING ?

43

by another raid threatened by the Iroquois at the
west. Early in the year Denonville, the governor-
general, had issued orders to Duran taye, Tonti,
and Du Luht, commanding the western tribes, to
concentrate their warriors at the Niagara River
in July, and join him and the French troops
from the St. Lawrence in a sweeping invasion of
the Five Nations. In this movement Tonti and
his Illinois force, as the right wing, were to have
passed up the Ohio River and attack the Senecas
in the rear. Before they got into motion the ap-
proach of six hundred Senecas was reported, and
the Illinois refused to leave their fort and vil-
lages. The Senecas, equally alarmed by their dis-
covery of Denonville’s plan, also fell back.

Denonville’s campaign was successful. But
Tonti, when he found that his force was unequal
to the part assigned to him, marched directly to
the Detroit, to unite with Durantaye and Du
Luht at the. post which the latter had established
at the head of the straits. In this way Major Mc-
Gregor and both his flotillas fell into the hands
of the French, one being captured by Durantaye,
a little below Mackinac, and the other intercepted
by Tonti at or near the west end of Lake Erie.
McGregor and his men were taken to Denon-
ville as prisoners, the traders and their cargoes
delivered over to the Indians for plunder.

This was the first collision of forces between
the French and the English at the west, and for
the time was fatal to the pretensions of Great

44

OHIO.

Britain in that quarter. This, followed by the
assembly and general pacification of the Indian
nations by De Callieres at Montreal, and the con-
solidation of the French power on the Mississippi,
Ohio, and Wabash rivers effected by D’Iberville,
Bienville, and Tonti, gave to France at the close
of the seventeenth century the mastery and ex-
clusive sovereignty of the whole country watered
by these rivers and the lakes of the north.

The position of Ohio in this course of events
is obscure, for the reason already indicated. For
forty years or more, darkness visible hung over
the beautiful region lying fallow between the
lake and the Ohio. The most that can be
gleaned from relations and documents thus far
disclosed is, that about the beginning of the
eighteenth century the French traders and cou-
reurs de hois were pitching their habitations along
the south shore of Lake Erie and up the valleys
of the Sandusky and Maumee, on their way to
the Wabash ; but apparently there was no French
settlement, mission, or post formed within the bor-
ders of Ohio. The post of which Courtmanche
was put in command by Frontenac in 1691 was
not at Fort Wayne, but at the mouth of the St.
Joseph’s, where the French endeavored to confine
the Miamis. Except Du Luht’s post at the head
of the Detroit, there was no establishment in or
near Ohio until Fort Pontchartrain and the col-
ony at Detroit were founded by De Callieres, in
spite of the displeasure of the Five Nations and

UNDER WHICH KING ?

45

the English, and built by Cadillac in 1701 by
his order. The Maumee, the Sandusky, and the
territory down to the Ohio thenceforward became
dependencies of this centre.

This aggressive step of the French in fortifying
the Detroit, and subordinating all the country
south of that post, moved the Five Nations in
alarm to surrender to the English the title which
they claimed to the western country. Nanfan,
the governor of New York, and Robert Living-
ston, the secretary, after a week’s conference with
the sachems at Albany, obtained a deed of ces-
sion July 19, 1701, by the Five Nations to the
king, transferring to him as their defender and
protector all the beaver - hunting lands at the
West, described as having been conquered by
them eighty years previously, commencing north
of Lake Ontario and extending to the Twight-
wees and Quadoge, about eight hundred miles by
four hundred in extent. In 1726 this was con-
firmed by a second deed, which included their
country in New York.

But, nevertheless, it was under French protec-
tion and authority, and not by any permission or
favor of the Five Nations, as they and the Eng-
lish were persistent in assuming, that the Wyan-
dots, Miamis, Shawanees of the Wabash, and the
Ottawas first entered and occupied the territory
which now composes Ohio. These tribes were
then under French allegiance, though some, the
Miamis especially, were held by a very uncer-
tain tenure.

CHAPTER IV.

THE BRITISH CONQUEST.

The defeat of Governor Dongan’s project for
extending British dominion and commerce into
the country bordering on the upper lakes, forced
the English to look for some other avenue to
the profitable trade so much coveted, and from
which the French were so determined to shut
them out. Unless it were by the canoe fleets in
1686 and 1687, which probably went up the
usual Iroquois route by the south shore of Lake
Erie, no Englishman had yet set foot in Ohio.

The first white population, and the first Euro-
pean rule in Ohio, must have been French. Who
the inhabitants were, when they came, or where
they lived, it would be difficult to discover.
Cadillac’s fort and settlement at Detroit had su-
perseded Mackinac politically, and was now the
central point of authority for Ohio and the route
from Canada to Louisiana. Most of the Hurons
and many Miamis and Ottawas were gathered
near Detroit, in separate villages, on both sides of
the river. Next west was the fort of the Mi-
amis, established by La Salle at the St. Joseph’s.
An important post was soon formed at the head
of the Maumee, the confluence of the St. Mary’s

THE BRITISH CONQUEST.

47

and another river St. Joseph’s, (now Fort
Wayne.) Between this post and Little River,
one of the heads of the Wabash, was the great
portage (eight miles) of the canoe traffic between
the East and the West.

This line of communication had become so well
established, that in 1718 Governor Spotswood, in
a despatch to the Board of Trade, could state
the itinerary or distances between Montreal and
the Mississippi by this route of the Mic and the
Occabacke, as he styled the Maumee and Wa-
bash. All along this line the French immi-
grants colonized in their peculiar fashion. First
to come, generally, were those nondescripts, the
coureurs des bois (bush-rangers or moonshiners),
who have left a scanty and unflattering record.1
They were a mixture of the smuggler and trap-
per; deemed outlaws because they would not
purchase licenses under the rigid monopoly in
the fur trade as farmed out in Canada. In this
way thousands of Frenchmen disappeared who
had been sent over to the colony at much ex-
pense; the king and his ministers constantly
complaining of the loss of their subjects. Far
out in the forests of the West, safe from the
king’s reach, they were living with the savages,
marrying and hunting, fiddling, drinking and
smoking, in entire independence. Of such were
many of the earliest settlers of Ohio.

1 The reader will find a fuller account of this class in Indiana
(American Commonwealths), chap. 3.

48 onio.

But this loose population was soon driven on-
ward by regular traders and officials, and it drifted
off to the Wabash, the Kaskaskias, and the Mis-
sissippi, where its survivors appear in Judge Hall’s
“ Tales of the Border ; ” finally they vanish in the
prairies and the mountains of the far West, figur-
ing as voyageurs, guides, and mountain-men in all
the expeditions, from that of Lewis and Clarke
down to those related by Irving.

Their successors, in turn, also passed away.
There were posts of the French traders at Cuya-
hoga, Sandusky, Maumee, indeed in every part of
northern and western Ohio where Indians were
most congregated. But there was no French set-
tlement of which any trace remains. There was
no history, hardly a “ relation” of them, so that
only the name survives. The traditions preserved
in the “ Firelands Pioneer,” by Root, Lane, and
Schuyler, are the most interesting.

The struggle against the English was in vain.
Poor and feeble as the colonies planted by Eng-
lishmen had been at first, they began now to in-
crease in size and to bristle with enterprise. The
cheap prices at which the English control of the
ocean enabled the English colonists to offer their
goods, and their reckless traffic in rum, proved
irresistible to the Indians of the West. But the
direction from which they emerged and broke
through the French lines was wholly unexpected.

Daniel Coxe’s “ Carolana,” and the “ Spotswood
Letters ” of still earlier date, show that the pro-

THE BRITISH CONQUEST.

49

prietors and the traders of the southern colonies,
particularly of Carolina, were much ahead of their
northern brethren in traversing the Alleghanies.
They must have been trading with the Indians
down the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers at
the time when La Salle was descending the Mis-
sissippi. Oldmixon, the earliest historian of the
colonies, was indignant that, when the English
thus had that river and its tributaries so near at
their back, the French should presume to claim
more power or right than they to its navigation,
“ whenever they shall have the same desire to it
as the French have.” According to Coxe, the
Tennessee was the way of the traders and adven-
turers of the Carolinas down to the Ohio and
Mississippi. D’Iberville sounded the alarm in an
elaborate report to the minister of the marine
and colonies (Pontchartrain) in January, 1701 ;
pointing out the fact that these people were arm-
ing the Chicasaws and other tribes in a manner
indicating that in thirty or forty years, unless the
French king established a stronger power there,
the English would be the masters of the whole
country between their colonies and the Mississippi,
“ one of the most beautiful countries in the
World.” In July he urged that a grant of two
leagues by six be conceded to Juchereau at the
mouth of the Wabash, in order that he might
establish his trading post and tannery there, and
prevent the English from meeting the coureurs
des boh at that point.

50

OHIO.

The warning was prophetic, but too late. In
January, 1703, he reported to the minister that
the English of Carolina and Maryland had an
establishment at that place. He made a sugges-
tion, which would surely have been a singular one
if La Salle had in fact been on the Ohio, that “ it
was a favorable time for exploring that river.” It
was discovered also, at this time, that some of
the Miamis at the St. Joseph’s had been visiting
Albany, and were disposed to remove farther from
the French by going down to the Wabash. Vin-
cennes was sent there in 1704 to restrain them,
but did not succeed. Disturbances arose between
the Miamis and Ottawas, which Cadillac inflamed
by his gross mismanagement, and brought to a
climax by attacking the Miamis at St. Joseph’s
with a strong force, and destroying their fort.
From this time the French lost their control of
the Miamis, and by means of this disaffection a
large delegation of the tribe were induced by
Montour and the Iroquois to meet the British
governor, Lord Cornbury, at Albany, and to
pledge their people to trade there. The governor
reported his success to the Board of Trade as
gained chiefly by Montour’s address. This was a
Canadian half-breed who had deserted from the
French, and was shortly afterward killed for his
treachery by order of Joncaire, the most active of
the French partisan leaders. His wife and sons
figured largely in subsequent history.

In 1719 Vaudreuil, the French governor, dis-

THE BRITISH CONQUEST.

51

closed the fact, in a despatch to the minister, that
the English had succeeded in drawing the Mia-
mis away from St. Joseph’s. He reported that
Vincennes, whom he had sent again to regain
control over them, had died at their village on
the Wabash, and that they now refused to return.
In October, 1725, he reported that the English
of Carolina had progressed so far up the country
that they had stores and houses on Little River
(near the portage), and were trading there with
the Miamis and other tribes of the upper country.
Beauharnois,liis successor, however, as he reported
in October, 1731, had arranged with the Shawa-
nees lower down on the Wabash, if the English
sent horses there loaded with goods, to kill the
horses and carry off the goods. “If these Indians,”
he said, “ keep their word, it is to be supposed that
the English will think no more of forming estab-
lishments in those parts.” Supposing these to have
been Carolinians, it is not surprising that nothing
more is heard of them in those parts. It is to be
observed, however, that the Carolina traders did
not use horses, and the surmise at once suggests
itself, whether the strangers on horseback thus
announced were not other intruders crossing Ohio
from the east. It is necessary, therefore, to cast
our eyes in that direction.

The crowding together of villages of the vari-
ous tribes in the vicinity of Detroit had not had
the happy result which the French expected.
The dissensions among them, followed in many

52

OHIO.

cases by murders, were so ill-controlled by the
governors as to cause not only the Miamis, but a
large body of the Hurons or Wyandots, to with-
draw. The latter are supposed to have attacked
and robbed a French settlement at Sandusky in
1744, taking their position on the Sandusky bay
and river, and thus becoming more accessible to
the English. Most strenuous efforts were made
by the French governors and their commandants
to bring the recusants back to their posts, but the
overpowering advantages of the English trade had
undermined all French authority; so that after
the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), which granted free
trade and put an end to the monopoly in Canada,
the French control of the fur trade was virtually
destroyed. It was, in fact, the beginning of a
foregone conclusion. The fatal spot in the French
colonial system appeared in the simple statement,
in Vaudreuil’s report in 1716, that u there are in
Canada at present only 4,484 persons between
14 and 60 years of age capable of bearing arms,
while in the English colonies, contiguous to
Canada, there are sixty thousand.” The long,
gallant struggle of a few devoted men like Fron-
tenac and Talon, La Salle, Tonti, and the Le
Moynes, hampered by the selfish king, penurious
in all but his vices, and by the grinding monopo-
lists, could not make head against the free energy
of the English. One cannot repress a feeling of
sympathy for the brave spirits who devoted their
lives to a falling cause, and yet were made to feel
in every hardship the tyrant’s rod.

THE BRITISH CONQUEST .

53

In the disordered state of Indian affairs which
prevailed in this quarter, it is difficult to fix any
details with accuracy. Only general results are
to be recognized. New paths were to be made
between the East and West. An Indian move-
ment of another sort began, of far more impor-
tance, inasmuch as it introduced the English for
the first time apparently upon the soil of Ohio.
This was the exodus of the Shawanees and Dela-
ware Indians from eastern Pennsylvania. It
began early in the eighteenth century, drawing
with it the Moravian Missions, and followed, or
rather attended by the inseparable parasites of
the Indians, the traders ; a species of the white
race of whom nothing good has ever been said,
though some do not deserve the stigma which has
blackened the name. The history of this move-
ment has been handed down in a little volume
entitled “An Enquiry into the Causes of the
Alienation of the Delaware and Shawanees In-
dians,” published in 1741, by Charles Thom-
son, afterwards secretary of Congress. Without
going into the details of this bitter story, it is
enough to say that by fraud, forgery, and most
cruel violence, the Delawares were persecuted out
of their beautiful country on the upper waters of
the Delaware River, and took refuge with their
friends, the Shawanees, on the Susquehanna.
These formed a part of the Shawanees nation,
who had been driven out of Florida in the pre-
vious century, and had migrated to the north in

54

OHIO.

two bodies; this one passing along the eastern
slope of the Alleghany Mountains into Pennsyl-
vania, the other going to the Cumberland River,
and thence passing over to the Wabash, where
La Salle had met them. A considerable portion
of the Delawares had joined the Moravians and
settled down to industrial pursuits in villages
near Bethlehem, on the Lehigh. These, in their
emigration, were accompanied by their devoted
pastors.

The Delawares and Shawanees on the Sus-
quehanna were much oppressed by the Six Na-
tions (the Tuscaroras having been added about
1713), and gradually took up their pilgrimage
to the west. They were the first people at the
north to scale the Alleghany Mountains. Halt-
ing first on the upper waters of the Alleghany
River (then known as the Ohio), they soon at-
tracted the eye of Joncaire, the sleepless emissary
of the French governor. With the arms and
succor which he furnished them, they waged a
bloody war of revenge upon the back settlements
of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia for
many years.

But being still too near the Senecas, they de-
scended the Alleghany River to the Ohio and
there separated ; the Shawanees going on to rejoin
their kindred at the Scioto, whilst the Delawares,
in their more cosmopolitan way, distributed them-
selves among the Mingoes, Wyandots, and Sha-
wanees, wherever they could find a welcome.

THE BRITISH CONQUEST .

55

The date of these movements, with which the
first progress of the English of the north toward
Ohio took place, would be of interest, but neces-
sarily is uncertain. Beauharnois and Aigremont,
in their despatches as to the Oswego contro-
versy in 1728, referred to measures taken by
Vaudreuil in 1724 to bring the Pennsylvania
Shawanees nearer to the French, and reported
that they already had a village on the Ohio (Al-
leghany). Their deputies were at Montreal in
1728. In the spring of 1732 Joncaire informed
Beauharnois that they had gone further down
and established villages on the east side, below
the Attigue (French Creek), and that negotia-
tions had taken place between them and the Hu-
rons, Miamis and Ouiatanons for admitting them
west of the Ohio. The Hurons had objected,
but the Ouiatanons (who were Miamis and better
known as Weas), now the nearest neighbors of
the Shawanees, had expressed the joy they felt,
and in that way matters had been harmoniously
settled. “ They appear to be resolved,” he added,
“ not to suffer the English to come that way to
trade.” But he was deceived.

That it was about this period that the Dela-
wares and Shawanees opened the way whereby
the traders of the middle colonies, particularly
Pennsylvania, first gained access to the country
northwest of the Ohio, was authoritatively con-
firmed in the Congress of the Colonies at Al-
bany in 1754. The Six Nations complained that

56

OHIO.

aggressions had been made upon them by the gov-
ernors of Pennsylvania and Virginia, who had
made new paths, they said, through their coun-
try (western Pennsylvania), and were building
houses without their consent. To counteract the
charge, Conrad Wiese r, the official interpreter of
Pennsylvania and a high authority among the
Six Nations, having been adopted by the Mo-
hawks in his youth, was brought forward and
replied : 44 The road to Ohio is no new road ; it
is an old and frequented road. The Shawanees
and the Delawares removed thither above thirty
years ago from Pennsylvania, ever since which
time the road has been traveled by our traders
at their invitation, and always with safety until
within these few years.”

The time can only be approximated, but as to
the main facts there can be no doubt. The
swarm of traders, with their long trains of pack-
horses and attendants, kept pace with the slow and
desultory movements of the Indians. This con-
stituted the primary stratum of Anglo-Saxon life
in Ohio ; 44 civilization ” is a term which hardly
belongs with this mongrel horde. A circum-
stance mentioned in Christian Frederick Post’s
journal will explain the large infusion of Irish in
this emigration. 44 The Indian traders used to
buy the transported Irish and other convicts,” he
states, 44 as servants to be employed in carrying
up the goods among the Indians. Many of these
ran away from their masters and joined the In-

THE BRITISH CONQUEST.

57

dians.” Some of them, it may be added, became
traders. Sir William Johnson, the king’s super-
intendent of Indian affairs in the north and
west, and George Croghan, his chief deputy at
the west, also were Irishmen. The latter began
his career as a trader about the year 1745 at the
Huron River, in Ohio.

Putting together the two events, Beauharnois’
despatch in 1731 concerning the English with
horses who were then appearing on the Wabash,
and Joncaire’s report in 1732 as to the joy with
which the Miamis had received the Shawanees
from the east, it may reasonably be collected that
the English traders, following in the wake of the
Indians, had as early as the year 1730 made their
way across the middle or southern part of Ohio
under favor of the Miamis ; and furthermore that
the Miamis had at this time extended themselves
further away from the French to the position on
the Big Miami River, where they were found by
De Celoron in the year 1749, and by Gist in 1750.
Necessarily, before this event, the solitudes had
been broken, and the valleys of the Muskingum,
Hockhocking, Scioto and the two Miamis, as well
as the Cuyahoga, Huron, and Sandusky, had be-
come the hunting grounds of the new nations
from the west which from the beginning of the
century had been gathering in. That all this
had occurred by any authority or permission of
the Five Nations would be hard to show.

The contest now began between the French

58

OHIO .

and English for the control of the trade, and it
may be said of the country, on the Ohio River.
The Pennsylvania trader and the blacksmith, a
great desideratum among the Indians, soon be-
came prominent at all the Indian towns. Their
free trade in arms, ammunition, rum and British
goods, on French territory, not only made them
an object of alarm as trespassers and smugglers,
but, what was infinitely worse, their traffic, at less
than half the tariff of prices which the French
had fixed upon the Indians, made their competi-
tion fatal to French commerce and French au-
thority. The French commandants resorted to
every art and even threats to hold the Indians to
their regulations. But the contraband commerce
was pushed by emissaries (Iroquois, Mohegans,
and whites), for the purpose of sowing jealousy
between the Ohio tribes and the French gover-
nors. There is little doubt that the English co-
lonial governors were granting licenses to their
traders to encourage them in pushing their
traffic. A distressing indication of this will be
found in the piteous appeals which the Indian
chiefs, in their visits and councils with the gov-
ernors, constantly addressed to them to stop the
traffic in ardent spirits, by which the traders
were robbing and ruining their people. Hardly
one of the provincial governors had the courage
or humanity to heed them.

In this contention Croghan, the Montours, and
McKee became the leading agents of the English.

THE BRITISH CONQUEST .

59

On the French side the two Joncaires, father and
son, were ubiquitous. Without entering into mi-
nute occurrences, a few only of the events which
led to the French and Indian war can be re-
ferred to ; the first serious outbreak being a con-
spiracy of the Hurons under Nicolas at Sandusky
in 1747, as usually represented, but really part
of a far more extensive and dangerous scheme
than that. There is every indication that a
league including seventeen tribes for the over-
throw of French authority at the west, and of
which Demoiselle, chief of the Twightwees (Mi-
amis), was the head, had been nearly formed.
His town and fort was on the river La Roche
(Big Miami) at or near the present city of
Piqua. The plot was prematurely sprung by
Nicolas, one of the chief agents in it. He was
the head of the refractory band of Hurons who
in 1744 had withdrawn from Detroit and estab-
lished themselves at Sandusky Bay, or perhaps
up the river. Here he was found by a party of
Pennsylvania traders early in 1747, and at their
instance, as the French authorities were informed,
robbed and murdered five French traders, who,
on their way from White River to Detroit, had
passed through the town with their train.

Hostilities at once followed. The Miamis cap-
tured the French fort at the head of the Mau-
mee. Many of the French traders in Ohio, taken
unawares, were pillaged and murdered. But the
outbreak was quickly reduced by a stronger hand

60

OHIO.

than the ordinary governors or commandants.
By accident, the Marquis de la Galissoniere, a
soldier and a statesman also, of eminent ability
and energy, was at this time the acting governor
at Quebec. Jonquiere, the regularly appointed
governor, had been captured by the English on
his voyage out, % and Galissoniere appointed ad
interim . He arrived at Quebec in September,
1747, and had a short but eventful administra-
tion. With his quick perception he grasped the
whole field of trouble, and though the season was
too late for immediate action, his measures were
such that strong reinforcements and supplies
were sent early in 1748 to Detroit and Mackinac,
with instructions to Longueil, the commandant
at Detroit, of such rigorous severity that Nicolas
and his band were compelled to betake them-
selves to the far West, and Demoiselle came with
much show of grief to Detroit. With this, how-
ever, Galissoniere was not satisfied.

De Celoron, a veteran major in the French
service, who had conducted the reinforcements to
Longueil, was ordered by Galissoniere, on his re-
turn to Montreal, to fit out an expedition of
French and Indians, and early in the next year to
cross Lake Erie to the upper Ohio and proclaim
the sovereignty of France. His orders were,
after expelling the English traders and reducing
the Indians to subordination, to visit Demoiselle
at his fort on the river Roche and compel him to
go back to the St. Joseph’s.

THE BRITISH CONQUEST.

61

Galissoniere’s purpose, distinctly, was to force
an issue with the English provincial governors ;
for as yet there was no hostility between the two
governments, and the outbreak was merely local.
He regarded the country on the Ohio as belong-
ing by right and exclusively to France, and held
that it was endangered by the temporizing con-
duct of his predecessors. He penetrated the in-
sidious designs of the English in the turbulence,
revolts, and murders into which the tribes lately
so closely allied with the French had been drawn;
and it was his intention to have followed up De
Celoron’s demonstration by establishing forts to
command the Ohio River. He was recalled to
France on what were considered weightier affairs.

These measures of Galissoni£re were really the
inception of Ohio history, and the State may be
proud of the auspices under which she first
emerged from obscurity. De Celoron’s expedition,
of about two hundred and fifty French and In-
dians, left Montreal June 15, 1749. Lifting his
bateaux out of Lake Erie into Lake Chautauqua,
and forcing them through its outlet into the belle
riviere (Alleghany), he buried in the opposite
or south bank a lead plate inscribed with the
proclamation of Louis XV. as king, and reassert-
ing his dominion and possession of the Ohio, and
of all rivers and countries connected with it.
Similar plates were buried on the south side of
the Ohio, near Wheeling, at the mouth of the
Kanawha, and also at the mouth of the Muskin-

62

OHIO.

gum and Big Miami rivers. France, it is to be
observed, distinctly proclaimed her dominion over
Western Virginia in this expedition.

On the 6th of August, at Chiningue (Logs-
town), De Celoron captured a party of English
traders, with a train of fifty horses and one
hundred and fifty packages of furs, bound for
Philadelphia. They pleaded their licenses from
the governor of Pennsylvania, and were dis-
charged, but were warned that they and their
fellow-traders were to expect no more leniency.
De Celoron also dispatched formal notices by
them to the governor of Pennsylvania to the
same effect, and passed on to the river Roche (Big
Miami), which he entered with his bateaux Au-
gust 30th. The navigation at that season must
have been most difficult, but he arrived at Demoi-
selle’s village (no fort is mentioned) September
13th. The chief he treated with much considera-
tion and gave him handsome gifts, but reproached
him for his ingratitude, and very peremptorily
told him that he had come to take him by the
hand, and lead him back to the graves of his
fathers at Kiskakon, there to relight the old fires.
Demoiselle and Baril, a chief on the Little Miami,
accepted the gifts, but pleaded the lateness of the
season, and so prevailed on De Celoron to allow
them to postpone their removal until early in the
following spring. The expedition then went on
by land to the French fort, which had been re-
established at the head of the Maumee.

THE BRITISH CONQUEST.

63

The fact that De Celoron’s report was the first
authentic relation yet known of Ohio, excites a
lively interest in it until it is read ; but is so dry,
and restricted to the details of an official report,
that, except as to topography, it is of little merit.
The old soldier would not deign to notice a single
scene in all the landscape through which he
passed. To Father Bonnecamps, the chaplain and
mathematician of this expedition, Ohio owes the
first map of her boundaries or outlines yet dis-
covered.

Hamilton, the governor of Pennsylvania, in a
letter to Governor Clinton of New York, dated
October 2d, admitted the reception of De Celo-
ron’s protest, and in no wise denied granting the
licenses to the traders which De Celoron charged
upon him. His only apprehension seemed to be
lest the traders might now be molested. He
found that they were so satisfied of the friendship
of the Indians, however, that they were deter-
mined, he said, to prosecute the trade “ which has
of late been a very valuable one.”

Another provocation of the French now arose
out of the formation of the Ohio Company, an
association of leading Virginians and some Lon-
don merchants engaged in the Virginia trade.
Two of General Washington's brothers were
members. Thomas Lee, president of the Virginia
Council, is usually accounted as the originator of
the plan, which was to make settlements on the
fertile lands of the Ohio valley, marvelous accounts

64

OHIO.

of which were being brought in by the traders.
But Smollett’s History attributes the plan to
Governor Spotswood, and states that he proposed
it to the English ministry in 1716. This was the
year of his celebrated “ Tramontane expedition ”
to the Blue Ridge, escorted by the Knights of
the Golden Horseshoe. Spotswood’s proposition
was laid aside, Smollett intimates, partly from
fear of the French, but more perhaps because of
the dispute just then arising between Virginia
and Pennsylvania concerning their boundaries on
the Ohio.

Besides colonizing, the object of the Ohio Com-
pany was to enter into competition with the Penn-
sylvanians in the lucrative business of smuggling
among the Indians, a business which the Pennsyl-
vanians hitherto had enjoyed almost exclusively.
The petition which they addressed, not to the
governor *of Virginia but to the king, was the be-
ginning of operations in Western lands: it asked
a grant of lands northwest of the Ohio, if deemed
expedient, but mainly between the Monongahela
and Kanawha rivers, so that the water communi-
cations between the heads of the Potomac and
Ohio might be available for transportation. The
king approved it, and authorized a grant of
600,000 acres to be made. But the grant was
never issued.

Without waiting for it, the company erected
stores at Wills Creek (Cumberland), opened a
road or path across the mountains to the Monon-

THE BRITISH CONQUEST .

65

gahela, and prepared to erect a fort at the conflu-
ence of this and the Alleghany River, then known
as the “Forks.” Goods were imported from Eng-
land and sent forward. The company also sent
out Christopher Gist, an experienced woodsman
and surveyor, well known among the Indians,
with instructions to “cross the mountains and
search out the lands upon the Ohio and other ad-
joining branches of the Mississippi, as low down
as the great falls thereof.” He had instructions
from Governor Dinwiddie, also, to invite a meet-
ing of the Indian tribes at Logstown, a village of
the Senecas on the Ohio, sixteen miles below the
Forks, to receive gifts which their father, the king
of England, had sent over as a token of amity.

The English traders and emissaries on the
Ohio became more busy and defiant than ever.
De Celoron had no sooner turned his back than
the traffic and intriguing with the Indians was re-
commenced, new forces from Virginia and Mary-
land entering into the competition. But Jon-
quiere, who in May, 1749, succeeded Galissoniere
as governor, disapproved of the leniency which
De Celoron had shown to Demoiselle and the
traders. De Celoron, being now commandant at
Detroit, received orders which soon convinced the
English that his warnings were no idle form. All
traders who were found by the French in Ohio
were arrested by his troops and auxiliaries, the
Ottawas. He also established a fort at the upper
end of Sandusky Bay.

66

OHIO.

Captain Gist set forth on his exploration of
Ohio about November 1, 1750. Descending the
Alleghany and Ohio rivers to the Big Beaver and
thence crossing the country, he came on the 5th
of December to the Tuscarawas (then called the
Mooskingum, or Elk’s Eye Creek) at a point near
the line between the counties of Stark and Tusca-
rawas. Going down that stream, through beauti-
ful meadows and open timber, though in some
places there was none, he arrived on the 14th at
Muskingum, a large town of the Wyandots, and
the residence of their king, situated some fifteen
miles above the confluence of the Elk’s Eye and
White woman’s Creek (Wahlhonding). Here he
met George Croghan and Andrew Montour on
an official expedition, and found the British colors
hoisted over the king’s house. This was in con-
sequence of an alarm excited by the arrival of
fleeing traders, who were coming in every day,
stripped of their property by strong parties of
French and Indians traversing the country, and
glad to escape with their lives. A council of the
Wyandots was held, at which Croghan and Mon-
tour announced the arrival of the king’s great
present in Virginia, and formally invited them to
go and meet the governor, to partake of “ Rog-
goney’s favor.” The King and Council thanked
them, but “ would wait for a general council of
the Indians next Spring.”

In company with Croghan and Montour and
their escort, Gist rode over to the Scioto and

THE BRITISH CONQUEST .

67

down its east bank to the lower Shawanees town,
situated, as he states, on both sides of the Ohio, a
little below the Scioto. Here Croghan and Mon-
tour made another most elaborate effort to win
over the Indians, but with no better result than
with the Wyandots.

They then went across the country to the Pic-
qualinees, Piankeshaws, or Picktown (a tribe of
the Tawightis, or Tawixtis, as the Miamis at that
time were called by the English), on the west
bank of the “ Big Mineami.” Gist states that it
contained four hundred families, and was one of
the strongest Indian towns in that part of the
continent. Numbers of traders had taken refuge
there. Some had their own houses. The fort
wanted repairs, and the traders were helping to
line the inside with logs. The success of the
English emissaries here was complete. A dele-
gation of four Ottawas appeared at the council
with speeches and gifts from the French. The
scene which followed, as described by Gist, was a
dramatic one. The Ottawas were too haughty,
and made themselves offensive by allusions to the
recent backsliding of their brothers, the Miamis.
The Piankeshaw king arose and withdrew in a
passion whilst the Ottawa speaker was still ha-
ranguing. The council, with more dignity, heard
him through, and reserved their decision until the
next morning. It then came from the Tawighti
war chief, who gave the voice of the Miamis
against the French, and in terms so emphatic that

68

OHIO.

the Ottawas lost no time in getting out of the
town.

From this point Gist turned south, and went
back through Kentucky to Virginia. His descrip-
tions are far more interesting and show keener
observation than those in De Celoron’s Journal,
though limited much in the same manner to the
object of his special mission. A single extract
respecting the country through which he passed,
between Portsmouth and Piqua, will give a
glimpse of primitive Ohio : —

“ All the land from the Shawanese town to this place
(the Tawighti town) except the first twenty miles,
which is broken, is fine, rich, level land, well timbered
with large walnut, ash, sugar trees, cherry, etc., well
watered with a great number of little streams, and
abounds with turkeys, deer, elks, and most sorts of
game, particularly buffaloes, thirty or forty of which
are frequently seen feeding in one meadow ; in short,
it wants nothing but cultivation to make it a most de-
lightful country. The land upon the Great Mineami
River is very rich, level, and well timbered, some of
the finest meadows that can be. The grass here grows
to a great height in the clear fields, of which there are
a great number, and the bottoms are full of white clo-
ver, wild rye, and blue grass.

“ Returning,” he says, as far as Mad Creek with
his former company, “ we there parted, they for Hock-
hocking and I for the Shawanese town ; and as I was
alone, and knew that the French Indians had threatened
us and would probably pursue or lie in wait for us, I
left the path and went southwestward down the Little

THE BRITISH CONQUEST.

69

Mineami river or creek, where I bad fine traveling
through rich land and beautiful meadows, in which I
could sometimes see forty or fifty buffaloes feeding at
once. The Little Mineami continued to run through
the middle of a fine meadow, about a mile wide, very
clear, like an old field, and not a bush in it. I could
see the buffaloes in it about two miles off.”

The triumph of the English was short, and the
Piankeshaw king was made to rue it. Captures
and murders now multiplied on both sides. By
order of De Celoron, three Pennsylvanians who
ventured to Sandusky, and another who was so
bold as to go to the French fort at the head of
the Maumee, about the close of the year (1751),
were arrested as spies and sent to Montreal.
After an examination by Jonquiere, they were
sent to France for trial. Lord Albemarle, the
British minister at Paris, formally demanded
their release, on the plea that they had been cap-
tured illegally. The right of sovereignty over
the territory of Ohio thus became a question of
state. The French minister released the prison-
ers, but the settlement of the main question was
left to the entanglements of diplomacy.

Under the skillful handling of Croghan and his
auxiliaries, the Indians were worked up to such a
pitch of exasperation that fifty or sixty French-
men were computed to have been slain in the for-
ests of Ohio and on the Wabash in the fall and
winter of 1751-52. The Miamis openly u offered
the hatchet” to the English governors. To add

70

OHIO.

to the complication, Governor Dinwiddie, profess-
ing to serve the king, now came into the field,
equally jealous of the French and of the Penn-
sylvanians. He denied that Penn had any title
on the Ohio River, and persevered in his purpose
of holding his meeting with the Indians at Logs-
town by sending three commissioners there in
May, 1752, assisted by Wieser and Gist, to treat
with the Senecas, Shawanees, and Delawares. A
generous distribution of gifts in the king’s name
was made, and a share reserved for the Miamis,
who did not come as expected. Dinwiddie’s pur-
pose was to obtain a ratification by the western
Indians of a cession which, it was alleged, had
been made by the Six Nations to the king in
1744, at the treaty of Lancaster, of all their lands
within the bounds of Virginia. This treaty had
been a scene of drunkenness, debauchery, and
fraud, disgraceful to the commissioners and to all
who were concerned in it. The sham, however,
could not be palmed off upon the savages at
Logstown. They complained there was u too
much pen-and-ink work ” about this matter, and,
as they understood it, the cession made at Lan-
caster did not extend west of the Alleghany hills.
But they agreed not to molest the settlements
southeast of the Ohio River, and consented, as
Dinwiddie understood it, that he should build a
fort at the forks of the Ohio.

But while this u pen-and-ink business” was
going on at Logstown, De Celoron, by a sharp

THE BRITISH CONQUEST.

71

and decisive blow, put an end for a time to British
schemes on the Ohio. He dispatched from De-
troit two hundred and forty Frenchmen and Ot-
tawas, who suddenly fell upon the Tawightis, June
21, 1752. The Picqualinny town and fort were
captured, many of the Indians and traders slain,
and others carried off as prisoners. Their goods
were confiscated, and the Piankeshaw king was
killed and devoured by the Ottawas, in revenge
for his insult and murders. This chief was called
44 Old Britain ” by the English. Whether or not
it was Demoiselle does not appear. The French
officers in this expedition are not ordinarily
named, though Belletre and Longueil had been
reported to Sir William Johnson, in the summer
of 1751, as having gone up Lake Ontario to 44 at-
tack the Twigtee village where the English are
building a stone house for trading or, as ex-
pressed by him to Governor Clinton, 46 to stop
the Philadelphians building at or near the Ohio.”

This reduced the Ohio tribes to abject submis-
sion. They sent most imploring messages to the
English governors for aid, but received nothing
in return but assurances of sympathy. The
angry Miamis turned back again to their French
allegiance, and sent deputies to Detroit and Mon-
treal to sue for mercy. 44 Thus,” in Mr. Ban-
croft’s phrase, 44 on the alluvial lands of western
Ohio began the contest that was to scatter death
broadcast through the world.”

Without detailing the events of the seven

72

OHIO .

years’ war, by which the country northwest of
the Ohio was converted into a province of the
British dominions, we may at least bestow a
glance at that part which was fought so closely
upon its border as to be essentially a part of
the history of Ohio.

The Marquis Du Quesne was sent to succeed
Jonquiere as governor in May, 1752, with instruc-
tions to drive the English and their traders away
from the Ohio. For that purpose he sent a
strong force early in the next year, under the
Sieur Marin (Morang the English had it), a
fierce old veteran of the most determined charac-
ter. To reach the head of the Ohio he landed at
Presq-isle (Erie), and built a fort on the penin-
sula. A wagon road wbs cut through to the
west branch of French Creek (Le Bceuf), eigh-
teen miles distant, and another fort constructed
there, with a depot for stores midway between the
two. At this the English on the Alleghany fled.
Tanacharisson, the half-king of the Senecas, came
to Marin and protested indignantly, “ This land
is ours and not yours.”

Marin, throwing aside all ceremony, denounced
him as foolish. “You say this land belongs to
jmu ; but not so much of it as the black of my
nails is yours. It is my land ; and I will have it,
let who will stand up for it.”

Marin had pledged Du Quesne that he would
be upon the Ohio before winter. But want of
supplies for his fifteen hundred men, the low

THE BRITISH CONQUEST .

73

water in French Creek, the heat and malarial
fevers, proved an insuperable combination. His
guns and heavy stores could not be moved down
to the Alleghany. The unhappy general closed
the year by sending back twelve hundred of his
men, reserving a garrison of three hundred at Le
Boeuf, where he remained and where he soon
died. It was here that Major George Washing-
ton, in December, presented to St. Pierre, Ma-
rin’s second in command, Governor Dinwiddie’s
letter, addressed to the commander of the French
forces, demanding that he “ retire from his Bri-
tannic Majesty’s dominions.”

Through the terrible inclemencies of that win-
ter, with Captain Gist as a guide, Washington
had come to Tanacharisson, at his town on the
Ohio, for an escort. Tanacharisson told him of
Marin’s speech, and seemed in no wise inclined to
meet the Frenchman again. Washington would
accept no excuse, and with Gist and Tanacha-
risson made his way to Le Boeuf. The delays
and plots which the cunning Joncaire and the
French invented to cut him off need not be re-
lated. Taking St. Pierre’s reply, and a head full
of observations he had been making on the
French, the young envoy returned, through great
perils, to Williamsburgh, and made his report to
the governor.

St. Pierre’s reply led Dinwiddie to take im-
mediate measures to prevent the descent which
the French, as Washington had discovered, were

74

OHIO.

intending upon Logstown. Captain William
Trent had already been commissioned to raise a
company of one hundred men, and sent to Red-
stone. He was now ordered to build a fort at
the junction of the Monongahela and Alleghany
rivers, and in February began it. But on the
16th of April, a French force of one thousand
men with artillery, under command of Contre-
coeur, descended upon his little party in his ab-
sence, captured their work, and proceeded to erect
in place of it the strong work, armed with cannon,
known as Fort Du Quesne. France now held
the Ohio and the lakes.

Galissoniere’s policy had triumphed, and for
the present the question was settled. The Eng-
lish were completely driven out. France by this
measure became possessed of all the country west
of the Alleghany Mountains. Ohio and the
Northwest relapsed wholly into her control. How
completely the Miamis and their confederacy
were humbled appears from a letter of Washing-
ton to the governor of Pennsylvania, announcing
the capture of the Virginians on the Ohio, and
that six hundred Ottawas and Chippewas were
coming by way of the Scioto to aid the French.

The supine indifference of the English colonies
in this state of affairs on the Ohio seems at the
present day incredible. All the horrors of an
Indian invasion were threatened. Governor Din-
widdie addressed the most urgent appeals to the
provincial governors, as well as to the British

THE BRITISH CONQUEST .

75

government, to aid in defending the frontier.
The provincial assemblies with one accord ex-
cused themselves. Pennsylvania would do noth-
ing unless Virginia would relinquish her claim to
the territory now invaded. We get some insight
of the wrangle which subsequently distracted the
States during the war for independence.

The British government manifested more con-
cern than the colonies. Years had been wasted
in a tedious, inconsequential exchange of memo-
rials and conventions between commissioners of
the two nations at Paris, in which each had been
seeking to amuse the other with a seeming desire
to preserve peace, while secretly laboring to pre-
pare for war, in America. But the British cabi-
net was alarmed at the advantage now gained by
France, and fitted out an expedition in February,
1755, under General Braddock as commander-in-
chief of forces in America ; the first which Great
Britain sent to this country. He was secretly
instructed that, with the regiments which he
brought over and two provincial regiments to be
raised by Shirley and Pepperel as colonels, and
companies of riflemen and rangers levied else-
where, he should direct three expeditions against
Fort Du Quesne, Niagara, and Crown Point.

All this was divulged in July by the capture
of Braddock’s baggage and papers at the defeat
and destruction of his forces on the Monongahela.
All his instructions, plans, and correspondence
with his government and with the provincial au-

76

OHIO.

thorities were exposed in a “ Memorial ” which
the French government issued to the courts of
Europe to show the perfidy of the English.
Nothing could better evince what mere sport
American affairs at this time were with the Eu-
ropean statesmen and diplomatists than the posi-
tion taken by the French minister on receiving
intelligence of Du Quesne’s advance, and posses-
sion of the Ohio : he made a formal proposal to
England that both nations should retire from the
Ohio and the territory west of the mountains, so
that “the respective pretensions ” might be “ ami-
cably submitted to the commission appointed at
Paris, to the end that the differences between the
two courts may be terminated by a speedy recon-
ciliation,” suggesting, at the same time, that it
“ would relieve his Christian Majesty of an un-
easy impression if his Britannic Majesty would
be open and explicit as to the destination of the
armament (Braddock’s) last raised in England.”
But the British court was sore, and after tempo-
rizing sufficiently for Braddock’s expeditions to
march, declared war in May. France also de-
clared war in June.

Braddock’s disastrous fate, followed by years
of ravage and desolation of western Pennsylva-
nia and Virginia by the French Indians ; the loss
of Minorca, where Galissoniere, by his superior
manoeuvring of the French fleet, drove off Admi-
ral Byng ; the mismanagement of Braddock’s
successor, Lord Loudoun, by which every rneas*

THE BRITISH CONQUEST .

77

ure for the next two or three campaigns in
America was somehow defeated or miscarried,
— all seemed to point to the overthrow of the
English, and to the permanent establishment of
French dominion over the lakes and the West.

Fortunately, as the people of Ohio will ever
probably esteem it, the House of Commons and
public opinion in England compelled the king
at this crisis, against all his antipathies, to accept
William Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham, for a
brief term as the head of his government. In
June, 1757, this great minister succeeded to the
long, ignominious control of affairs by the Duke
of Newcastle and his followers, and in his admin-
istration, short but momentous, breathed an am-
bition akin to his own into the generals and ad-
mirals of a new school to whom he committed
the armies and fleets in America. The losses
were soon repaired. Among the gains was Fort
Du Quesne, which on November 9, 1758, on
the approach of General Forbes and his powerful
forces, in which were Colonels Washington and
Bouquet, was evacuated and blown up by the
French. By Wolfe’s great and crowning victory
on the heights of Quebec, September 13, 1759,
the result was determined. The contest in Upper
Canada continued until the total surrender to
Sir Jeffry Amherst, September 8, 1760, by the ca-
pitulation of Vaudreuil, the governor. This ended
the war in America. War on the ocean and in
the West Indies continued until late in 1762,

78

OHIO.

when preliminaries for peace were signed, and
on the 10th of February, 1763, the Treaty of
Paris was closed, and “ the confines between the
dominions of Great Britain and France in Amer-
ica fixed irrevocably by a line drawn along the
middle of the river Mississippi from its source to
the river Iberville, and by a line through this
river and lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to
the sea.”

Men may question if the victorious cause was
the just one, but accepting the accomplished fact,
immortal gratitude attaches to Mr. Pitt from
every dweller by the lakes and rivers of the West.
It is his glory that he struck this imperial blow
just in time to save the undivided continent to
the Anglo-Norman race and institutions. The
interest and importance which he attached to the
possession of the Ohio will be seen in an extract
from a letter written by him on receiving the
news of the capture of Fort Du Quesne : —

“ Whitehall, January 23, 1759.

“ Sir : I am now to acquaint you that the King
has been pleased, immediately on hearing the news of
the success of his arms on the river Ohio, to direct the
Commander in Chief of his Majesty’s forces in North
America, and General Forbes, to lose no time in con-
certing the properest and speediest means for completely
restoring, if possible, the ruined Fort Du Quesne to a
defensible and respectable state, or for erecting another
in the room of it, of sufficient strength, and every way
adequate to the great importance of maintaining his

THE BRITISH CONQUEST .

79

Majesty’s subjects in the undisputed possession of the
Ohio ; of effectually cutting off all trade and communi-
cation this way between Canada and the Western and
Southwestern Indians ; of protecting the British colo-
nies from the incursions to which they have been ex-
posed since the French built the above fort, and thereby
made themselves masters of the navigation of the Ohio ;
and of fixing again the several Indian nations in their
alliance with and dependence upon his Majesty’s gov-
ernment.”

CHAPTER V.

ANNEXED TO QUEBEC.

The Treaty of Paris may be said to have laid
the corner-stone of American independence, ft
lifted the cloud of terror which bad so long over-
hung the great wall of the Alleghanies. The
colonists no longer felt that they needed Eng-
land’s protecting arm to secure them from the
French. The frontiersmen had never doubted
their ability to cope with the savage but for the
aid and supplies which their enemies received
from Canada and the western posts.

Stripped of all verbiage, the treaty declared
that the king of France ceded and guaranteed to
the king of England Canada and all his depen-
dencies or rights east of the Mississippi River.

The king of Spain also was a party to the
treaty, and ceded East and West Florida to Eng-
land for the restoration of Havana, which had
been captured in the war. The king of England,
on his part, granted to the inhabitants of the
ceded territories the liberty of the Catholic reli-
gion and worship, according to the rites of that
church, as far as the laws of Great Britain ad-
mitted, and the right, if they chose, to sell their

ANNEXED TO QUEBEC . 81

estates and quit the country within eighteen
months.1

The treaty would have let loose the land spec-
ulators and the whole Pennsylvania and Virginia
border upon the Indians. The king of England,
therefore, by an order in council, October 7, 1763,
known as the “ King’s Proclamation,” proceeded
to erect the three new provinces of Quebec and
East and West Florida with certain boundaries,
giving to the governors power to summon assem-
blies for legislation, establish courts, etc. The gov-
ernors of these provinces were authorized to make
grants of lands within their respective bounda-
ries; especially for bounties, on a fixed scale, to
all the officers and men of the land and naval
forces who had served in the late war in America.

But in order that the Indians under the king’s
protection should not be molested or disturbed
in the possession of parts of the late conquest
reserved as their hunting-grounds, it was declared
to be his will and pleasure that no governor in
any of his colonies or plantations in America
should presume, until his further pleasure, to
make grants for “ any lands beyond the heads or
sources of any of the rivers which fall into the
Atlantic from the west or northwest, or any lands
whatever reserved to the Indians.”

The proclamation also declared “ all the lands
and territories lying westward of the sources of
the rivers which fall into the sea from the west
1 See Appendix, No. I.

82

OHIO.

and northwest, as aforesaid, other than those set
off to the three new provinces, to be reserved,
under the king’s sovereignty, protection, and do-
minion, for the use of the Indians ; and all his
subjects were strictly forbidden, under pain of
his displeasure, from making any purchases or set-
tlements whatever, or taking possession of any
of the lands so reserved, without his special leave
and license for that purpose first obtained. All
persons who had either willfully or inadvertently
settled upon any lands within the country re-
served to the Indians, were required to remove
themselves forthwith.”

Private persons were forbidden to purchase
lands of the Indians, and no cessions from them
even to the king were to be taken unless in his
name, and at public councils or assemblies of the
Indians held by his governors for that purpose.1

This exclusion of the colonies and plantations
from the territory west of the mountains, and
taking it under the king’s exclusive domain, was
not a sudden or arbitrary measure. Before the
war the Albany congress (1754), in their “ Re-
presentation ” to the king, had recommended ex-
plicitly “ that the bounds of those colonies which
extend to the South Sea be contracted and limited
by the Allegheny or Apalachian Mountains.” But
this was more effectively done by the French the
same year. To enforce the pledge of religious
liberty given to the Roman Catholics in the treaty,
1 See Appendix, No. I.

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83

General Gage issued a proclamation in December,
1764, reassuring the French in Illinois that they
had the same rights and privileges in that respect
as enjoyed in Canada ; and if, instead of retiring
to New Orleans, they should take the oath of
fidelity, they might rely upon enjoying the same
security for their persons, property, and liberty of
trade as old subjects. The French had been ex-
ceedingly restive, and it was suspected were still
inciting the Indians against the English.

The king’s proclamation shows that, in the
construction put upon the treaty by the crown
authorities, the ceded territory was a new acqui-
sition by conquest. The proclamation was the
formal appropriation of it as the king’s domain,
embracing all the country west of the heads or
sources of the rivers falling into the Atlantic.
This appropriation, by the settled principles of
the king’s prerogative under English law, vested
the domain in him exclusively, so that it could
inure to no subject without his further pleasure,
as expressed in the proclamation. The royal
prerogative admitted of no trusts, or participation
in its fruits or flowers.

As the ceded territory embraced what is now
the State of Ohio, this consequently passed to
the crown, in the same full right and dominion
as the king of France had held it at the begin-
ning of the war. In this condition it remained
until it should be established as a new province,
or annexed to one of the pre-existing provinces ;

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OHIO .

subject only to military commanders or Indian
agents, acting under the immediate orders of the
king in council, or of the Board of Trade, which
at that period administered the king’s domain in
America. As a matter of fact, neither of the
provincial governments, by which the thirteen
colonies were then controlled, ever exercised or
assumed any control of it. In respect to them it
stood much in the same position as that now sub-
sisting between the states and the territories.

From this it results that the present territory of
Ohio, in common with all the reservation thus
made by the crown to its own immediate domin-
ion, has its proprietary and political basis exclu-
sively in the Treaty of Paris and the king’s
proclamation of 1763. The primary title in the
soil of Ohio comes through the treaty, which, in
the cession to the king, excepted only such pos-
sessions as had been granted to the inhabitants
under the French law. As no French grants had
been made in Ohio, the soil passed to the king
entire.

Under these conditions, another of which was
the reservation that the king would dispose of this
Indian territory according to his further will and
pleasure, Ohio was now relegated, under its new
sovereign, to the mercies of the Indians, the traders
and the waifs and strays, who were quickly in
motion for the border.

The first act of British authority was the dis-
patch of a company of regulars and two hundred

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85

and fifty rangers, under Major Robert Rogers, to
take possession of Detroit and its dependencies,
in September, 1760, immediately after the surren-
der of Montreal and Canada. This was accom-
plished without any conflict ; and Rogers, after
stationing his regular troops at Detroit as a garri-
son, and sending small detachments to occupy the
French forts Miami and Gatanois and their post
at the mouth of the Scioto, returned by way of
Fort Pitt. His journal of the expedition gives
interesting descriptions of the lake shore, and
his return from Detroit around the western shore
of Lake Erie, and across the country to Pitts-
burgh. He was an illiterate man, and unprinci-
pled in money matters, but a good ranger and
observer. He is supposed to have met Pontiac
at the Cuyahoga, on his route westward. The
scene has been portrayed as highly dramatic. His
own account of the occasion does not mention
Pontiac. The meeting which he describes with
the Indian delegates was at the Chogage River,
thirty or thirty-two miles west of Presqu’isle,
therefore not the Cuyahoga. His itinerary across
Ohio points out many landmarks now easily rec-
ognized, and, like all the early descriptions, re-
counts marvels in regard to the profusion and
variety of game.

In July, 1761, Sir William Johnson made a
grand progress to Detroit as superintendent of
Indian affairs, bearing gifts to the Ottawas and
their confederate tribes. His journal of the voy-

86

OHIO.

age along the lake shore, in going and returning,
adds further information as to the country, and is
especially full as to the meetings with the savages
at Detroit, where he vainly supposed that a firm
and lasting peace was established. As serving to
show the progress of the West, Sir William men-
tions a dinner party by the commandant at De-
troit, and a ball at which he opened the dance
with one of the French belles, keeping up the gay-
eties until five o’clock the next morning. He had
no suspicion of the great revolt of Pontiac, so near
at hand, but the disclosure he makes as to the
weakness of the British posts is quite significant.
He notes the force in the garrisons, as being 150
at Detroit, 30 at Mackinac, 20 at Fort Miami
(Fort Wayne), 30 at St. Joseph, 30 at Ouiata-
non, 12 at Sandusky, and 30 at Presqu’isle, Le
Boeuf, and Venango each. Neither he nor Rogers
make any mention of a fort at Sandusky, but Sir
William refers to a “ block house to be built about
three leagues from the mouth of the lake.”

All this while the French virtually had control
of the Indians and their whole country on the
Wabash and west of the lakes. As already seen,
they had from the time of erecting Fort Du
Quesne thoroughly reconverted them all, the Mi-
amis included. The French traders also, from
that time, had penetrated and monopolized the
whole country east and west of Fort Pitt, and
though somewhat worsted, after the capture of
Fort Du Quesne in 1758, in competition with the

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87

English on the Ohio, they still held their own
everywhere west of it. The recoil of the border
settlers, however, which commenced with that
event, their eagerness for revenge, and their evi-
dent purpose to regain their former haunts,
aroused the hostility of the Indians. The un-
happy savages, now between the French and the
English, began to realize the picture drawn by a
French Indian : —

“ Brothers, ” he exclaimed, “ are you ignorant of the
difference between our Father and the English? Go
see the forts our Father has erected and you will find
that the land beneath his walls is still hunting ground,
having fixed himself in those places we frequent only to
supply our wants : whilst the English, on the contrary,
no sooner get possession of a country than the game is
forced to leave it ; the trees fall down before them ; the
earth becomes bare ; and we find among them hardly
wherewithal to shelter us when the night falls.”

Still better, however, as a stroke of Indian
humor, was the hit from a Mohawk at one of
their conferences with Sir William Johnson : —

“ I must now say it is not with our consent that the
French have committed any hostilities at the Ohio. We
don’t know what you Christians, English and French to-
gether, intend. We are so hemmed in by both that we
have hardly a hunting place left. In a little while, if
we find a bear in a tree, there will immediately appear
an owner of the land to challenge the property and hin-
der us from killing it, which is our livelihood. We are
so perplexed between both that we hardly know what
to say or think.,,

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OHIO.

The result of the alarm and exasperation ex-
cited among the Indians of the Northwest by the
intrigues and false reports of the French traders,
working against the English with infinite tact, was
the terrible outbreak in 1763, close upon the
Treaty of Paris, known as Pontiac’s War. The
Ohio Indians were supposed by Sir William John-
son to be the chief authors of the mischief, and
burst forth like hornets. As is now better under-
stood, it was the genius and work of Pontiac, a
chief of the Ottawas. This nation, it will be ob-
served, had been constant to the French. Pon-
tiac’s capacity for war was great, and his hatred of
the English intense. He sent to New Orleans for
arms and munitions. His faculty for administra-
tion and scheming employed two secretaries, one
to write his letters, another to read those which
he received ; neither being permitted to know the
transactions of the other. By this sudden gust
every one of the British posts just mentioned, ex-
cept Detroit and Fort Pitt, were swept away.
Croghan, the deputy superintendent, computed
that in four months two thousand men, women,
and children on the borders of Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and Virginia had been murdered, or
taken across the Ohio in captivity. Detroit was
saved by a forewarning which Gladwin, the com-
mandant, caught from a friendly Indian. Fort
Pitt was rescued only by a forced march of Colonel
Bouquet, a Swiss officer of great merit command-
ing a battalion of the Royal Americans, sixtieth

ANNEXED TO QUEBEC.

89

British Infantry, and a masterly stratagem, by
which, within an hour, he saved his own force and
the beleaguered fortress from the exultant sav-
ages, and routed them, filling them with dismay
at his skill in battle.

To penetrate Ohio and break up this unex-
pected opposition of British rule, two expeditions
were sent there in 1764 : one under Colonel Brad-
street, who passed up Lake Erie from Niagara in
July ; the other under Colonel Bouquet, which,
from the difficulty met in transporting troops and
supplies across the mountains, was delayed until
October. Bouquet then marched directly across
the country from Fort Pitt to the Muskingum
with two battalions of the forty-second and six-
tieth regiments, and about seven hundred provin-
cial troops, pitching his camp, October 13th, on
the bank of the Tuscarawas, near the point where
Captain Gist had first approached it.

The two expeditions were to have acted in
concert ; and as Bradstreet’s movement by water
would advance more speedily, he was to have
proceeded first to Detroit and Mackinac, and
then to have fallen back to a position at San-
dusky. This was to check any attempt of the
Ottawas and Hurons to assist the Senecas (Min-
goes), Shawanees, and Delawares against Colonel
Bouquet, whose special mission was to punish
these tribes.

A blunder of Bradstreet at the first step came
near frustrating both expeditions, and but for

90

OHIO.

Bouquet’s superior military judgment and sagac-
ity would have defeated the campaign. While
pushing his trains across the mountains in August
he received a despatch from Bradstreet, dated the
14th, at Presqu’isle, informing him that he had
there met the Delawares and Shawanees and
made peace. The crafty warriors on the Scioto
had discovered the English plan, and sent ten of
their chiefs to intercept him, under a pretense of
suing for peace. Bradstreet fell into the snare
and concluded an armistice, the deputies feigning
that their warriors were recalled, when in fact
they were murdering the whites all along the
frontier below, and trusting that the distance
would hide their falsehood.

Colonel Bouquet was not so easily deceived,
and prosecuted his march without hesitation.
The savages were in consternation at his sudden
appearance almost in the heart of their country.
Their dread of him was the greater because of
the astonishing blow he had given them the year
before at Fort Pitt, and because their scouts, who
had tracked him every day, were unable to gain
the least insight as to his numbers or supplies.
This was the result of the peculiar order of
marching and camping which he designed, much
the same as that of General Wayne thirty years
later. Without firing a gun, he so manoeuvred
that the chiefs of the Senecas, Delawares, and
Shawanees came to treat for peace two days after
he had halted. For this purpose the camp was

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91

moved two miles down the river to a high bluff
covered with stately timber, and affording abun-
dant grass for his horses and cattle.

Here, on October 17th, the first council was
held. The chiefs sought to throw all blame for
the war upon the western nations, and sued for
mercy, offering to deliver up all their prisoners.
They were dismissed until the next day, Col-
onel Bouquet promising simply to give an an-
swer then, but without intimating what answer
he should make. Decision was then postponed
to the 20th, to tighten the suspense.

On this occasion he resorted to the heroic
treatment which Marin had applied to Tanacha-
risson at Presqu’isle. He denounced their excuses
as childish. Their conduct, he told them, had
been perfidious, in murdering and plundering the
traders after inviting them back ; attacking
Fort Pitt, which had been rebuilt with their ex-
press consent ; murdering the king’s messengers,
when such were sacred among all nations, how-
ever barbarous ; and, notwithstanding their treaty
with Bradstreet, continuing to keep up havoc
and bloodshed on the border to that day. He
taunted them with their falsehood in pretending
to Bradstreet to recall their warriors and deliver
up prisoners. But this, he said, was nothing new.
They were habitual violators of treaties and faith.

“I am now to tell you,” he concluded, “that
we will no longer be imposed upon by your prom-
ises. This army shall not leave your country till

92

onio.

you have fully complied with every condition
now to be agreed. It is in our power to extirpate
you, but the English are merciful, and you shall
have mercy and peace if we can depend upon
your future good behavior. I have brought with
me the relatives of the people you have massa-
cred or captured. They are impatient for re-
venge, and restrained only by the assurances I
have given them that there shall be no peace
until you have given full satisfaction.

“ I give you twelve days to deliver into my
hands at Wakatomica” (a Shawanees town, now
Dresden) “ all the prisoners in your possession,
without exception, English, French, women, chil-
dren, and negroes. You are also to furnish them
clothing, provisions, and horses to carry them to
Fort Pitt.”

After this speech the council was dismissed,
and Bouquet refused to shake hands with the
chiefs. They were to know, he told them, that
the English never took enemies by the hand un-
til peace was concluded. He removed his army
to a point near the confluence of the Tuscarawas
and Wahlhonding, instead of Wakatomica, and
there established a fortified camp, with a store-
house for supplies, and a council house in which
to receive the Indians. Houses were built also
for the reception of the captives, with proper
attendants, even a matron to take care of the
women and children.

The finale of this campaign was a scene hardly

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93

matched in history, and which cannot be de-
scribed here in full. On the arrival of the pris-
oners, there were meetings of fathers, mothers,
husbands, wives, brothers and sisters, some recog-
nizing long-lost relations, rising as it were from
the dead. There were others bereaved and
speechless at not meeting their lost ones. Most
remarkable of all, there were numbers reluctant
to be given up, and instances of Indians who
parted with beloved captives in torrents of tears,
clinging to them as long as they remained in
camp, and bringing them daily all the gifts they
could bestow. Two hundred and six were sur-
rendered, of whom eighty-one were men, the
others women and children. The last to appear
were the Shawanees. On November 12th their
chief and forty warriors met Colonel Bouquet in
council, and with a mingling of fierce pride in
their submission offered him part of their pris-
oners ; being unable to bring the rest, as they
urged, because they belonged to some great men
who were absent. These, it was promised, should
certainly be forthcoming at Fort Pitt in the next
spring. Bouquet cut this short by demanding
six of the warriors as hostages. This being
granted and every demand settled, his army and
the rescued captives returned on the 28th of No-
vember to Fort Pitt.

Within two months, therefore, ended this expe-
dition, which, except that of General Wayne,
was perhaps the most effective Indian campaign

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OHIO .

in the military history of America. This meri-
torious officer was promoted, but he died the next
year in command at Pensacola. It has been a
subject of speculation what difference might have
occurred if Great Britain had not lost two such
officers as Bouquet and Sir William Johnson by
death before the war of the Revolution.

The effect of this demonstration did not reach
the tribes on the Wabash and Mississippi. There
the jealous hostility of the French, and also of the
Spanish at St. Louis (founded about this time
as a trading post), had a pernicious influence.
In 1765 Sir William Johnson sent Croghan, as
his deputy, to assume formal possession and con-
trol for the king over the Indians at that extrem-
ity of his department. Croghan descended the
Ohio in May with an escort of Mingoes, Dela-
wares, and Shawanees, stopping some days at the
Scioto to take custody of a number of French-
men who had been trading without license, and
by his order had been arrested by the Delawares
and Shawanees. His journal, among notes of the
country through which he passed, mentions that
the Shawanees town at the mouth of the Scioto,
which he and Gist had visited in the winter of
1750-51, had since been swept away by a flood
swelling nine feet over the banks of the Ohio.
It had been rebuilt on the south bank, but aban-
doned during the late war, the people removing
up the Scioto.

At the Wabash, Croghan and his embassy

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95

were captured by a band of young Kickapoo and
Mascouten warriors from the Maumee, at the in-
stigation's he suspected, of the French traders.
He and his white attendants were robbed, and
hurried up the Wabash ; the French at Vincennes
not only manifesting no sympathy, but openly
trafficking with the robbers for their spoils. But
on arriving among the Miamis, the captors met
with such indignation from the old chiefs as to
alarm them for their own safety. The Miamis
knew Croghan’s office and power.

He was released immediately, and the disaster
upon the whole proved fortunate. Croghan
made use of it to impress the tribes on the upper
Wabash and Maumee with such a sense of the
king’s liberality that they consented that British
troops should occupy all posts which the French
had held. A detachment of the Forty-second
Highlanders was sent from Fort Pitt for that
purpose in September. He also met Pontiac,
who was crossing the country from Illinois to De-
troit. This led to full explanations, and Pontiac
was reconciled. He had fought the English be-
cause, as he declared, the French had deceived
his people ; making them believe that the Eng-
lish were going to give their country to the
Cherokees and make them slaves.

Croghan and his Indian escort, now reunited,
proceeded down the Maumee, and held councils
with the Pottawatomies, Ottawas, and Kickapoos,
then occupying that valley, and with deputies of

96

OHIO.

the Twightwees, who came there to meet him.
At Detroit he and Campbell, the commander,
held councils with the Hurons and Chippewas,
and chiefs who came from the River La Roche
(Big Miami). Pontiac also appeared again ; and
an “ ancient council fire was now kindled,” as he
proclaimed figuratively to the assembly of war-
riors, “with dry wood, that the blaze might as-
cend to the clouds, so that all nations might see
it, and know that you live in peace and tranquil-
lity with your fathers, the English.”

In this accidental manner the conversion of the
tribes of the Northwest to the British interest
and allegiance was brought about far more quickly
and efficaciously than Sir William Johnson or
Croghan had planned. This “ covenant chain”
remained unbroken for thirty years. Detroit,
under the British flag, continued to be the centre
of control over the Indian tribes in all the terri-
tory down to the Ohio River, except that part on
the Muskingum and Cuyahoga which was tribu-
tary to Fort Pitt.

British interests, however, were much vexed
from Demoiselle’s old haunts at Piqua. The fort
had disappeared during the war, but the trading
post established by Peter Loramie, a hostile
Frenchman, about 1769, near by on the western
branch of the Big Miami (Loramie’s Fork), be-
came a noted resort of all malcontent Indians for
procuring arms and making mischief.

But the irrepressible conflict between the In-

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97

dians and the squatters and outcasts, who had
begun to congregate on the Monongahela before
Pontiac’s rebellion, now broke out anew. It
may be called also the era of the land com-
panies. Besides the Ohio Company, which had
been dormant during the war, two other associa-
tions of Virginians, known as the Loyal and the
Greenbriar companies, had been formed in 1749
and 1750 upon the promise in the king’s name
of immense grants of lands in western Virginia.
All these companies had been suppressed by the
war, and still more effectually by the king’s pro-
clamation interdicting all further land operations
west of the mountains.

But the proclamation admitted of a loophole
through the king’s special license, and this was
the opening through which these and other asso-
ciations, displaying the names of many distin-
guished men of the time, now began to work. The
strain which was brought to bear by these influ-
ences upon the king and council became severe.
Sir William Johnson had set a bad precedent by
accepting a gift of 40,000 acres of land in New
York from the Mohawks. The most formidable
of the associations was the Walpole Companj7,
named from a member of that family who was
at the head of it. It was brought into public
notice by a pamphlet issued at London in 1763,
entitled “ The Advantages of a Settlement upon
the Ohio.”

Some measure now became necessary, at least

98

OHIO.

as to that part of the coveted territory south and
southeast of the Ohio River, to relieve it from
the embarrassment caused by the proclamation,
which practically discriminated in favor of these
projectors of new colonies. The result was the
treaty of Fort Stanwix (Rome, N. Y.), in No-
vember, 1768, the importance of which in West-
ern history has been much overlooked. The
change to which it eventually led, not only in
boundaries but in jurisdiction, makes it particu-
larly material to the history of Ohio. A brief
outline of its origin and provisions will suffice.

Sir William Johnson and his deputy, Croghan,
who had leave of absence probably for the pur-
pose, in March, 1764, submitted to the Board of
Trade at London the importance of constructing
a division and boundary between the colonies and
the Indians further west. Croghan proposed a
line to be run from the heads of the river Dela-
ware to the mouth of the Ohio. The Lords of
Trade and Plantations, however, recommended
that the disposition of the Indians be first
sounded. This Sir William Johnson proceeded
to do by inviting a conference with the Six Na-
tions; for he had a delusive notion that they were
the monarchs and proprietors of the West. The
sachems, after gravely listening to the proposal,
took a day, according to Indian etiquette, to con-
sider it, and then made themselves ridiculous, as
Sir William told them, by proposing a line from
Lake Champlain across to the heads of the Sus-

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99

quebanna ; not the line, by any means, which the
movers in this enterprise desired. On second
consideration they came nearer the mark by offer-
ing the line of the Ohio River from the mouth of
the Tennessee up to Adigo (Kittanning), on the
Alleghany, thence to Shamokin on the Susque-
hanna, and up that river and its eastern branch to
Owego. This, Sir William thought, would do for
the present. In his concluding speech he took
pains to refer to it as offered of their own free
will, and exhorted them to be faithful to their
engagement, for the French and Spanish were
already busy in stirring up the opposition of the
western Indians. To this the Onondaga speaker,
an important functionary, replied that they had
the matter much at heart, and would acquaint the
nations at the Ohio of their resolution at a public
meeting in the Shawanees country, where these
nations held their councils, and did not doubt of
reconciling all of them to it. This ought to have
been sufficient to apprise Sir William Johnson of
the fallacious ground upon which he was proceed-
ing.

Some of these tribes, the Senecas, Delawares,
and Shawanees, had just been in council with
him, as they had promised at their meeting with
General Bouquet in the previous year. Croghan
also had been in conference with them in May,
1768, at Fort Pitt. But no allusion to the new
boundary had been made on either of these occa-
sions. It was observed, moreover, in this confer-

100

OHIO.

ence at Fort Pitt, that the Shawanees, in presence
of Croghan and the deputies of the Six Nations,
boldly asserted that the country down the Ohio
was owned by the tribes living there, and they
called upon the Pennsylvania commissioners to
stop their people from going there until these
tribes were spoken to.

Sir William Johnson’s success with the Six
Nations gave a new impulse to the land compa-
nies. The Walpole Company had been revived
in 1766, with Governor Franklin of New Jersey
at the head, and Sir William among its promoters.
Dr. Franklin, the governor’s father, was in Lon-
don at the time, and the company obtained his
agency in an endeavor to secure the grant. The
territory which they sought lay on the east side
of the Ohio, extending from a point opposite the
Scioto up to the Pennsylvania line, and was to
be bounded on the south by a line passing from
Cumberland Gap northeasterly to the confluence
of New River with the Greenbriar, and thence to
the Alleghany ridge. This would have shut Vir-
ginia out of the valley of the Kanawha. Dr.
Franklin pressed the application, but owing to a
change of ministry it was suspended some years.

Another colony of still larger proportions was
projected in 1766. In this also the names of the
Franklins and Sir William Johnson appeared,
with those of General Gage and some leading fur-
traders at Philadelphia. Their proposal was for
all the territory between the Ohio, the Mississippi,

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101

and the Wabash, to be bounded on the north by
a line extending from the mouth of the river
Wisconsin to the mouth of the Maumee. This
plan was easily defeated by Lord Hillsborough,
then head of the Lords of Trade and Plantations,
who was the uncompromising opponent of all the
companies.

The most formidable resistance to these enter-
prises arose from the claimants of the military
bounty lands promised by the proclamation of
1763, and by Governor Dinwiddie’s guaranty in
1754, of a grant of two hundred thousand acres
to the officers and soldiers who went out under
Washington to resist the French. Washington,
for himself and these claimants, urged all his in-
fluence against the monopolies proposed, and by
letters addressed to Governors Botetourt and
Dunmore and other authorities, obtained for his
men large grants in the Kanawha valley under
Dinwiddie’s pledge.

But another set of land operators was at work
during this contention, whose proceedings ad-
mitted of no further postponements of the boun-
dary question. Without regard to the king’s
proclamation, or the savages, the frontier people,
chiefly Virginians from the Potomac, had crossed
the mountains and built their cabins on Cheat
River, and as far down as Redstone (Brownsville)
on the Monongahela. This action created the ut-
most hostility among the Indians. General Gage
ordered the settlers to be expelled, and in the

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OHIO .

winter of 1766-67 addressed sharp remonstrances
to the governors of Pennsylvania and Virginia.
He warned them that the certain consequence of
these lawless outrages by their people would be
another carnage on their frontier. But he might
as well have forbidden the fish to swim down the
Ohio. The squatters paid no attention to his au-
thority.

The provincial authorities in Virginia, however,
were alarmed by advices that John Stuart, the
king’s superintendent of Indian affairs at the
south, was treating with the Cherokees for another
boundary, which would restrict the province as
seriously as the Walpole colony. This “ minis-
terial line,” as it was called, had in fact been
settled between the Board of Trade and the Cher-
okees before the treaty of Fort Stanwix, extending
from the mouth of the Kanawha south to Chis-
well’s Mine, on the line of North Carolina, and
thence through the Carolinas and Georgia to the
St. John’s River in Florida. It was in view of this
danger that Virginia now took a close interest in
the Fort Stanwix business.

The king’s order in council to Sir William
Johnson, January 5, 1768, was explicit that “the
boundary line between the several provinces and
the various Indian tribes be completed without
loss of time, conformably with the report of the
Board of Trade, and that he consult the gover-
nors of the different provinces concerning such
points as may affect them separately.” The re-

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103

port of the Board of Trade, March 7, 1768, with
which he, as commissioner, was thus ordered to
conform, referred to the “establishment of cer-
tain new colonies.” They recommended that the
king adopt the boundary laid down upon the map
annexed to the report, which was plainly marked
as extending from Owegy at the east to the
mouth of the Connahway (Kanawha) at the west,
and there turning south to Florida ; in other
words, adopting Stuart’s or the “ministerial line.”
The order in council related not only to the In-
dian boundary, but also to the boundaries to be
set between the old colonies and the new ones
contemplated.

A large concourse of people, Indian and white,
attended the treaty convention, October 24th, at
Fort Stanwix. Together with Sir William John-
son as the king’s representative, Franklin, the
governor of New Jersey, Richard Peters and
James Tilghman, commissioners for Pennsylvania,
and Thomas Walker, commissioner for Virginia,
took part in it. “ Sundry Gents from different
colonies” also attended, as the official report
quaintly adds. Dr. Walker was the first to pre-
sent his credentials from the governor of Virginia,
expressly authorizing him “ to be commissioner
of Virginia to settle a boundary line between this
colony and the colonies of Pennsylvania and
Maryland, and the several nations of Indians
concerned.” The Pennsylvania commissioners
were in like manner accredited.

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OHIO.

Without wading through days of tedious cere-
mony and speech-making, it need only be said that
on the 1st of November the deputies of the Six
Nations, with the map before them, announced as
their final resolve that the boundary line between
them and the British colonies should begin at the
mouth of the Cherokee (Tennessee) River, then
go along the southeast side of the Ohio to Kittan-
ning, from thence to the head of the west branch
of the Susquehanna and so on to Owegy, as origi-
nally proposed, but now extending it so as to ter-
minate at Wood Creek, near the fort. This they
offered in consideration of <£10,460 Is. 3 cZ., to be
paid by the king to the Six Nations. A deed of
cession, accordingly, “ to their Sovereign lord and
King George Third, his heirs and successors, to
and for his and their own proper use and behoof,”
was formally executed by the chiefs of the con-
federacy November 5th, and attested by Sir Wil-
liam Johnson, the governor of New Jersey, and
the commissioners of Pennsylvania and Virginia.
At the same time, and as part of the treaty, sepa-
rate grants were made to Pennsylvania in consid-
eration of ten thousand dollars for all the territory
west of the Susquehanna, besides certain tracts to
Croghan and others as gifts of the Six Nations.

It was altogether an extraordinary transaction.
The boundary established was in direct violation
of the order in council, and the line agreed upon
with the Cherokees. Virginia, instead of being
cooped up by the “ ministerial line,” gained the

ANNEXED TO QUEBEC.

105

whole of Kentucky. The material point at pres-
ent, however, is, that the north boundary of west-
ern Virginia, as thus fixed by her own procure-
ment and consent, was limited to the southeast
side of the Ohio River, or the south side, as ex-
pressed in the deed. The cession to Pennsylvania
was equally conclusive upon all the parties. The
king at once disapproved the treaty, but did not
disavow it ; such was the powerful hold which, in
Indian affairs, Sir William Johnson had upon the
government. In his report enclosing the treaty,
he vindicated himself on the ground that the Six
Nations had insisted that they, and not the Chero-
kees, owned the Ohio down to the Tennessee, and
would not be satisfied unless their cession extended
there. But he advanced a more singular apology,
that “ he was only concerned lest the Virginians,
especially those on the frontier, should take pos-
session and begin settlements on these lands,”
south of the Ohio. Many persons, of consequence,
he added, were induced to promote these frontier
people ; and in support of this he intimated that
u he saw a deed in the hands of the Virginia com-
missioners for great part of these lands, which
they assured me had formerly met with encourage-
ment from his late Majesty and the then ministry,
of which numbers were determined to avail them-
selves forthwith. This did not a little contribute
to induce me to accept the cession of the country,
to prevent the general ill consequences which
must attend such settlements without the Indians’
consent.” '

106

OHIO.

The apocryphal deed so effectively used has
never come to light, but the “ Virginia commis-
sioners ” evidently had the upper hand in adjust-
ing the boundary. The king yielded to these
persuasive reasons, and in December, 1769, rati-
fied the treaty, except as to the private grants to
Croghan and others, which were rejected. They
were afterwards urged upon Congress, but with-
out avail.

The land companies now redoubled their exer-
tions at London. In December a new one, styled
the Mississippi Company, composed of forty-nine
leading Virginians, Colonel George Washington
among them, sent a petition to the king for a
grant of two and a half million acres of land be-
tween the mountains and the lately established
boundary. This petition was referred by the
Privy Council to the Lords of Trade and Planta-
tions, and there it disappears. But the Walpole
Company was more successful. In spite of Lord
Hillsborough’s strenuous opposition, Dr. Frank-
lin’s appeal for the new colony, the ablest tract
it has been said which he ever wrote, was so effec-
tive that by an order in council, August 14, 1772,
a grant was authorized of the whole territory
southeast of the Ohio, from the Pennsylvania line
down to a point opposite the mouth of the Scioto ;
“to the end,” it was declared, “ that the same may
be settled, and such settlement and district erected
into a separate government, as the Board of Trade
shall advise and the King approve.”

ANNEXED TO QUEBEC .

107

Virginia would thus have lost the opening she
had gained at Fort Stanwix. The order in coun-
cil in favor of the Walpole Company was trans-
mitted to Sir William Johnson, that he might
obtain the consent of the Six Nations, according
to his established routine. About the same time
a compromise was effected between the Walpole
and the Ohio companies, and the latter was
merged in the former. But in the revolutionary
storm now impending, both of them perished, and
Virginia took quiet possession of the field of all
this rivalry and intrigue, to which she had sub-
mitted without opposition or complaint. But be-
sides arousing the land speculators, the treaty of
Fort Stanwix had set the Indian tribes beyond
the Ohio in a blaze of jealousy by depriving them
of a voice or of any share in the largess unduly
bestowed, as they thought, upon the Six Nations.
A still worse cause of exasperation was the horde
of borderers of the baser sort thus incited to
move down upon the rich lands south of the Ohio,
and who scrupled not to cross the river and exer-
cise their lawless rapacity there also. These sav-
ages regarded Indians as having no rights, and
killed them as indifferently as they would snakes.

The deadly struggle thus aroused, as the French
had foretold, soon settled down into a twenty
years’ war, fought by the Indians to save the line
of the Ohio itself. The Shawanees took the lead
in continuous raids, murders, and robberies north
and south of the river. At the general congress

108

OHIO.

of the western tribes which was held at the
Scioto Plains (Pickaway) in the summers of 1771,
1772, 1773, successively, they strove to reunite
these tribes in a general war of extermination
upon the English. Sir William Johnson, having
been somewhat censured by Lord Hillsborough
for misleading the ministry in respect to the rela-
tions between the western tribes and the Six
Nations, sent deputies who succeeded in detach-
ing the more distant tribes ; but the Shawanees,
Wyandots, Senecas, and a majority of the Dela-
wares, persisted in their hostility. In this way all
were easily converted by the English commandant
at Detroit and his emissaries, during the Revo-
lutionary War, into unrelenting enemies of the
colonies. One of the calamities resulting from it
was the destruction of the Moravian missions on
the Muskingum.

It was believed that the war of Lord Dunmore
and the Virginians against the Shawanees in 1774
was not merely to punish them for their retalia-
tion for the murder of Logan’s relations and other
Indians on the upper Ohio that summer, though
that ostensibly was his object. Some obscurity
must remain until Lord Dunmore’s papers, and
the contemporaneous documents in the state
paper archives at London, are more fully brought
to light. Not only the butchery and captures by
the Indians in the back parts of Virginia for years,
and the ugly dispute between Virginia and Penn-
sylvania about the territory at the head of the

ANNEXED TO QUEBEC.

109

Ohio commenced by Dinwiddie,but also the grow-
ing difficulties between the crown and the colo-
nies, which at this time were becoming critical,
may all have furnished him with motives. It was
the firm belief of Virginians, including many of
Dunmore’s officers and men, that the expedition
was contrived with a deliberate intention of sacri-
ficing them and gaining favor with the savages, in
order that these might aid the mother country in
the event of a war. The justice of this suspicion
seems doubtful, from the fact that the Virginia
convention, in March, 1775, passed a vote of “ cor-
dial thanks to their worthy Governor, Lord Dun-
more, for his truly noble, wise, and spirited conduct
in the late expedition against our Indian enemy.”
General Andrew Lewis and Colonel Christian,
two of his officers, were members of that conven-
tion.

The plan for this invasion of Ohio was, that
General Lewis, with three regiments, should de-
scend the Kanawha, and be joined at the mouth of
that river by Dunmore and his forces, who were
to advance from the northern counties by way of
the Ohio. Lord Dunmore lost time in dallying
with the Senecas and Delawares at Fort Pitt, and
dispatched three traders with an order to Lewis
to march immediately for the Chillicothe towns
(Scioto), Dunmore intending to land at the mouth
of the Hockhocking, and march to the same point.
Lewis received the express October 9th, but at
sunrise the next morning was stormed in his camp

110

OHIO .

by the confederate Shawanees, Delawares, and
Mingoes, commanded by Cornstalk, the great war
chief of the Shawanees. They had silently crossed
the river in the night. Lewis’s scouts for four
days had discovered no sign of them. All that
day a desperate battle was fought by the Virgin-
ians, who were hemmed in between the two riv-
ers. At dark the Indians retired as noiselessly
as they had come, having discovered the approach
of a fresh regiment from Fincastle.

Dunmore and his weaker force, after throwing
up a fortification at the mouth of the Hockhock-
ing, were permitted to march undisturbed to
Sippo Creek, a tributary of the Scioto (near the
line between Ross and Pickaway counties), and
there, at his fortified camp (Charlotte), had re-
ceived the submission of the Shawanees. Their
messengers, suing for peace, had set out to meet
him at the Hockhocking, whilst Cornstalk -was
executing his quick flanking stroke at the other
wing. In skill and strategy, nothing superior to
this had occurred in Indian warfare.

The approach of Lewis to Camp Charlotte was
discovered by the savages with terror. Dunmore
sent an express to inform him of the pacification,
and with orders to return to Virginia. Lewis, it
is said, continued to advance until met by Dun-
more in person, with his staff. He then halted,
in bitter disappointment, and fell back to Fort
Gower, at the mouth of the Hockhocking, whether
by himself, or together with Dunmore’s force, does
not appear.

ANNEXED TO QUEBEC.

Ill

Here, on the banks of the Ohio, November 5,
1774, at a meeting of officers “ for the purpose of
considering the grievances of British America,”
emanated the following resolutions, afterward
published in the “ Virginia Gazette ” : —

“ Resolved , That we will bear the most faith-
ful allegiance to his Majesty King George the
Third whilst his Majesty delights to reign over a
free people ; that we will at the expense of life
and everything dear and valuable exert ourselves
in support of the honor of his Crown and the dig-
nity of the British Empire. But as the love of
liberty and attachment to the real interests and
just rights of America outweigh every other con-
sideration, we resolve that we will exert every
power within us for the defense of American lib-
erty, and for the support of her just rights and
privileges ; not in any precipitate, riotous, or tu-
multuous manner, but when regularly called forth
by the unanimous voice of our countrymen.

“ Resolved , That we entertain the greatest re-
spect for his Excellency the Right Honorable
Lord Dunmore, who commanded the expedition
against the Shawanese, and who we are confident
underwent the great fatigue of this singular cam-
paign from no other motive than the true in-
terest of this country.”

Lord Dunmore’s treaty, as it is commonly
styled, was really no treaty. It was agreed that
he should meet the deputies of these tribes at
Fort Pitt in the following spring for the purpose

112

OHIO.

of forming one. By that time he was involved
in deeper troubles. The campaign accomplished
but little. The Indians promised to surrender
their captives and plunder, and that they would
not hunt or make any more predatory incursions"
south of the Ohio. The Mingoes attempted to
evade the issue by stealing off, but were over-
taken by a strong detachment under Major Craw-
ford at the salt lick town (Franklin County), and
severely punished.

Several characters figured in this campaign who
afterwards became notable. Besides General
Lewis and his colonels, there were younger men,
such as Daniel Morgan, George Rogers Clark,
William Crawford, Simon Kenton, and Simon
Girty. It was on this occasion also, and at Camp
Charlotte, that Lord Dunmore received the cele-
brated speech of Logan, the Mingo warrior ; the
little gem of natural eloquence which was repro-
duced by Mr. Jefferson, in his u Notes on Vir-
ginia,” as “ challenging whole orations of Demos-
thenes and Cicero, or any more eminent orator, if
Europe has furnished any, to produce a passage
superior to it.” Notwithstanding Mr. Luther
Martin’s rude aspersions in gratifying his feeling
against Mr. Jefferson, the authenticity of the
speech is clearly traceable, though its genuineness
may have been marred by over-zealous translators
or copyists.

Logan took no part in the conferences, but was
sulking near by. Girty was sent to him by Lord

ANNEXED TO QUEBEC.

113

Dunmore with a special invitation, but failed to
bring him. Colonel Gibson was then sent, and
through him the speech was returned. Kenton
and Girty had once been comrades at Fort Pitt,
and now renewed their acquaintance. Four years
later it took a dramatic turn, in which Logan also
had a part, and it is worthy of note as furnish-
ing the last that is known of this singular being.
Kenton, in 1778, was captured by the Shawanees
in one of his scouting excursions, and being doomed
to the stake was taken to Wapatomica, on Mad
River. Girty happened to come there, and, seeing
the prisoner with his face blackened, demanded
his name. On discovering that it was Kenton, the
hardened savage, usually regarded as relentless,
embraced him and wept aloud, assuring him he
would save him if he could. He caused the coun-
cil to be reassembled and made a speech, which
Kenton, eagerly watching the countenances of his
judges, could see was moving them. Girty, when
he concluded, received a unanimous grunt of ap-
proval. He took Kenton to the store of the Brit-
ish traders, and fitting him out with new clothing,
horse and saddle, rode with him around the neigh-
boring towns for some days, receiving congratu-
lations. By ill luck a war party came in, which
had lost severely in a fight with the whites. Ken-
ton was demanded as a victim of their vengeance,
and no entreaties of Girty could save him. But
as a favor to Girty the council agreed that the
burning should be at Upper Sandusky, then the

114

OHIO.

place for payment of British annuities, gifts, and
favors.

At the crossing of the Scioto, where Logan at
this time had his cabin, the guard stopped over-
night. Happily the great chief was at home, and
in course of the night visited Kenton. In the
morning he detained the guard, and informed
Kenton that he had sent two young men ahead
to speak a good word for him at Sandusky.
When the guard set off the next day, Logan
shook hands with the prisoner at parting, but
said nothing as to his fate. On arriving at San-
dusky they were met by the whole Indian popu-
lation, but Kenton was spared from running the
gauntlet. The council assembled for his fourth
ordeal, and was about to consign him to execution,
when Peter Druyer, a Canadian captain in the
British service, a man of influence and much tact
with the Indians, and noted for his humanity,
appeared in full uniform. This was Logan’s de-
vice, and it had complete success. Druyer in a
flattering speech applauded the Indians for their
great success against the Americans, the cause of
all this bloody and distressing war. No punish-
ment could be too severe. But this prisoner was
a man of the very utmost importance to the com-
mandant at Detroit. He possessed information
of more value to the allies for conducting the war
than the lives of twenty ordinary prisoners. He
urged, therefore, that Kenton be sent to Detroit
for examination first, and then brought back for

ANNEXED TO QUEBEC .

115

his doom. As his captors had been put to great
trouble, Captain Druyer supplemented his speech
by offering them one hundred dollars at once, in
tobacco, rum, etc., assuring them of his confidence
that the commandant would, on delivery of the
prisoner to him, increase it to their entire satis-
faction.

Kenton was sent on to Detroit, and the com-
mandant, it is needless to say, had no difficulty in
sending the guard back quite contented without
him. If McDonald is right as to the time of
this occurrence, the commandant must have been
Hamilton, who was himself the prisoner of George
Rogers Clark a year later.

While the Dunmore campaign was going on,
the first Continental Congress had met at Phila-
delphia, and sent forth their memorable mani-
festoes of grievances. Another event had occurred
earlier in the year, unknown to Lord Dunmore,
which totally changed the political status and re-
lations of the country which he had been invad-
ing. Parliament, on June 22d, had passed an act
“ making more effectual provision for the govern-
ment of the Province of Quebec,” hence known
as the Quebec Act. By this the whole country
bounded by the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the
lakes west of the west line of Pennsylvania, was
annexed and made part of that province.

The declared object of this measure was to ex-
tend the boundaries and government of Quebec,
so as to secure and satisfy the French inhabitants

116

OHIO.

at Kaskaskias, the Wabash, and Detroit. They
had remained there under faith in the pledges
given to them by the king in the Treaty of Paris
and the proclamation of 1763, but had for ten
years been left without any civil government or
privileges whatever. Moreover, the provisions
made for the Quebec government in the procla-
mation had been found inapplicable to its people
and circumstances; the French being wholly un-
used to popular representation and other English
institutions, and particularly averse to trial by
jury. All this was changed, and the administra-
tion committed to the governor and council and
the courts, to be conducted according to the sys-
tem of laws and local tribunals established in
Canada. Judge Burnet observes that the French
in Michigan, under the Ordinance of 1787, com-
plained loudly of the American courts and their
slow, tedious proceedings, with juries and inter-
preters to speak for the witnesses.

The Quebec Act extended to all inhabitants
of the province the free exercise and enjoyment
of the religion of the Church of Rome, subject
nevertheless to the king’s supremacy. The clergy
of that church were to have their accustomed dues
and rights with respect to such persons only as
professed that religion ; provision being reserved
also for such maintenance of the Protestant
clergy as the king should deem expedient and
necessary.

This act was denounced, in and out of Parlia-

ANNEXED TO QUEBEC .

117

ment, as arbitrary and dangerous ; and yet, though
debated by the most eminent men in both houses,
was suffered to pass, by the insignificant vote of
fifty-six against twenty in the House of Com-
mons, and twenty-six against seven in the House
of Lords. One of these seven was Lord Chatham,
who assailed it as 44 a child of inordinate power,”
and, holding up the religious part to the bench
of bishops, he asked if any of them 64 would hold
it out for baptism.” The Continental Congress
also viewed it in that light ; not quite the spirit
of tolerance which might have been expected of
the Sons of Liberty, animated in some degree,
perhaps, with the temper of sour grapes. Mo-
tives in politics do not always bear inspection.

The truth was that Parliament, by the Quebec
Act, simply made good what the king had prom-
ised in 1763, in order to prevent a general exodus
of the French of Canada, Detroit, and Illinois to
Louisiana ; and this new government, like that
which was temporarily imposed by the Ordinance
of 1787, was well adapted to an immense country
with no population. Such an unexampled con-
cession of religious liberty placed Parliament at
an advantage. Even though the motive were to
divide the French from the English colonies in
the rising insurrection, it must be admitted to have
been a legitimate measure of policy.

Ohio was now transferred back to its old con-
nection with Canada, and so remained until the
treaty of independence in 1783. The jurisdiction

118

OHIO.

was but nominal, and wholly military. Prior to
the Ordinance of 1787 there is no trace of a
magistrate or civil officer in Ohio, either French,
English, or American, unless it were those of the
“ squatter sovereigns ” on the Upper Ohio, to be
mentioned in another chapter.

CHAPTER YI.

THE MORAVIANS.

The villages planted by the Moravian mission-
aries on the banks of the Tuscarawas River, in
1772, are fairly entitled to rank as the first settle-
ments in Ohio. Numbers of white people inhab-
ited the country before them, but without law or
order ; unknown to the world, and even to each
other. Many a “ first white child” had been born
in these wilds before the little Moravians, John
Lewis Rothe, 1773, and Joanna Heckwelder, 1781.
They, however, were but waifs and strays, the
place of whose nativity “ knoweth them no more.”
The claim formerly made for Marietta as the
earliest settlement, is clearly incorrect. In legal
phrase, it is estopped by its own record. The
grant by Congress to the Ohio Company in July,
1787, which included Marietta, and the ordinance
in 1785 by which the first surveys and disposal of
the Western lands was directed, expressly excepted
and reserved the Moravian villages and the lands
surrounding them, ten thousand acres in all, for
the Christian Indians u formerly settled there.”
The title was vested by the United States in the
Moravian Brethren at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania,

120

OHIO .

for civilizing the Indians and promoting Chris-
tianity.

The Moravians thus were not only officially
recognized as settlers, but the irregularity of their
possession, which has been supposed technically
to debar the recognition of them as settlers, was
removed. The gift was subsequently enlarged to
twelve thousand acres, and in 1823 was all recon-
veyed to the United States, the churchyards,
cemeteries, and a few special leases excepted.

The Moravian Church arose far back in the
reaction of the Waldenses and Bohemians, prior
to the Reformation. The Hussite War had led to
inhuman excesses on both sides. A little sect in
Bohemia and Moravia, turning aside from these
bloody contentions, humbly sought a purer doc-
trine and worship, and attempted, with what light
they had, to frame their faith upon the love and
law of Christ, styling themselves Fratres Legis
Christi . But as this bore the appearance of a
monastic order, they adopted the name of the
United Brethren, “ Unitas Fratrum .” The “ daily
Word ” was the feature and guide of their daily
life. It was a text from the gospels for each
day’s meditation, and the striking coincidences
which turned upon this book are much referred to
in their histories. Another peculiarity which they
adopted from the primitive Christians was that of
submitting to lot all questions likely to breed
contention, believing this to be the will of God.

Their church government was episcopal. Their

THE MORAVIANS.

121

tenets were few and simple ; binding them to a
circumspect life and discipline, and especially call-
ing on them to bear all things for conscience’ sake.
Instead of defending themselves by force and
arms, as the Hussites had done, the height of
their faith was to rely upon prayer and remon-
strance only, against the rage of their enemies.
They refused to perform military duty and to
take oaths in court. It is a harsh reflection upon
human nature, but wherever they went, this be-
came the chief cause of their misfortunes. They
made little account of other dogmas, but welcomed
all who trusted with them in the merits and suf-
ferings of Jesus. Every trait in His character
and life was dwelt upon in their devout contem-
plations. They sought especially to awaken re-
ligious sensibilities by holding up the crucifixion
and suffering, by the liveliest and most ardent
pictures of fancy. These passionate appeals, and
the sweet devotional poetry and music which
they cultivated so highly, contributed in no small
degree to deepen such impressions. The faith
they sought to implant was mainly through love.

To go in this panoply before the wild Indians
of America, it must be admitted, was proof of
great faith, and the seeming incongruity required
thus much to be said of them. Strangely, the
direction thus taken, and the sensibilities thus
appealed to, proved to be precisely adapted to
the Indian nature, and had a power which, under
different circumstances, might have made a dif-
ferent history for the red man.

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OHIO .

Guided by Count Zinzendorf as bishop, they
adopted foreign missions as their vocation, send-
ing their preachers to Greenland, to the West
Indies, and in 1735 to Georgia. But Ogle-
thorpe’s border war with the Spaniards compelled
him to call every man in his colony to arms, and
the Moravians, rather than forsake their princi-
ples, abandoned their lands and escaped to Penn-
sylvania. Here some of their brethren were al-
ready fixed. Among the refugees was the young
David Zeisberger, the future head of the Ohio
missions. Bethlehem on the Lehigh became, and
is yet, the centre in America of their double sys-
tem of missions and education. They bought
lands, laid out villages and farms, built houses,
shops, and mills, but everywhere, and first of all,
houses of prayer, in thankfulness for the peace
and prosperity at length found.

The first mission established by Zinzendorf in
the colonies was in 1741, among the Mohican In-
dians, near the borders of New York and Con-
necticut. The bigoted people and authorities of
the neighborhood by outrages and persecution
drove them off, so that they were forced to take
refuge on the Lehigh. The brethren established
them in a new colony twenty miles above Beth-
lehem, to which they gave the name of Gnaden-
hiitten (Tents of Grace).

The prosperity of the Mohicans attracted the
attention and visits of the Indians beyond. The
nearest were the Delawares, between whom and

TEE MORAVIANS .

123

the Mohicans there were strong ties of affinity, as
branches of the old Lenni Lenape stock. Rela-
tions were thus formed between the Moravians
and the Delawares. And by the fraternization
between the Delawares and Shawanees already
referred to, and their gradual emigration to the
West to escape the encroachments of Penn’s peo-
ple, it occurred that the Moravian missionaries,
Zeisberger foremost, accompanied their Dela-
ware and Mohican converts to the Susquehanna
in 1765, and again, when driven from there by
the cession at Fort Stanwix, journeyed with them
across the Alleghanies to Gosligoshink, a town
established by the unconverted Delawares far up
the Alleghany River.

Here heathen conjurers and preachers were
practicing abominations, which in Zeisberger’s
eyes showed that Satan had chosen this place as
his throne. He and his Indian assistants also
preached, denouncing their falsehoods and decep-
tions with most fearless severity. Zeisberger
would then turn to the Indians, and melt them to
tears by his vivid pictures, in their own language,
of the mercy and grace which was in store for
repentant sinners. One of these scenes was made
the subject of Schussele’s historical painting “The
Power of the Gospel.” These persuasive appeals,
and such hymns, also in the Delaware language,
as never before had reverberated among the hills
of the Alleghany, brought numbers of visitors
to hear and see this new worship.

124

OHIO.

One of these became the most distinguished of
the converts and supporters of the missions in
Ohio. This was Glickhican, a leader of the Dela-
ware warriors, who by his captivating address and
power of speech had become the chief counselor
and orator of Pakanke, chief of the Wolf clan of
Delawares at Kuskuskee, on Big Beaver Creek.
He had heard of Zeisberger’s victory over the
sorcerers at Gosgosliink, and now came pur-
posely to silence him.

He and some brother chiefs who came with
him to witness the triumph were entertained at
dinner by the Indian brother Anthony, who was
also burning for this combat, and could not re-
press a few well chosen words as to sin and salva-
tion. Glickhican was impressed with his earnest-
ness, but without any reply went to the daily
meeting. And now occurred a phenomenon
which still puzzles most men, and was more than
the superstition of an Indian could bear.

As he entered, he suddenly conceived that the
very scene he now beheld had appeared to him
before : Indians with plain hair, without rings in
their noses, assembled in a large room ; in their
midst a short white man, who, presenting him a
book, desired him to read, and upon his replying
that he could not read, the white man had said,
“ After you have been with us a while, you will
learn how to read it.” Therefore, on entering
the room and seeing the Indian congregation, and
a short white man (Zeisberger) holding a book,

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125

all answering the vision he had seen or dreamed,
he was overcome with astonishment and retired.
On returning to Kuskuskee he related this dis-
comfiture to his brother warriors, and they were
equally confounded.

The Moravians were invited by Pakanke, in a
few months, to come to the Big Beaver ; and in
April, 1770, transferred themselves to their new
home, to which they gave the name of Frieden-
stadt. But now, besides the enmity of the sorcer-
ers, they encountered a storm of wrath from Pa-
kanke, caused by Glickhican deserting and joining
himself to the Moravians as a convert. His old
companions on the war-path, as well as the chief,
were implacable. Pakanke taunted his late cap-
tain and counselor with ingratitude. “ Were you
not a brave,” he exclaimed, “ and honored by sit-
ting next to me in council ? And now you pre-
tend to despise all this, and think you have found
something better. Some time or other you will
find you were mistaken.” Glickhican bore it
quietly and replied : “ I have gone over to them,
and with them I will live or die.”

To remove the prejudice that had been formed,
the Moravians declared that, though their con-
verts renounced war and hostile expeditions,
they would willingly contribute a full share of
the general burden and expense attending the
welfare of the Delawares in time of peace.
They imposed as a condition, however, that the
council and their chiefs and captains must claim

126

OHIO.

no authority over the missionaries, but leave
them, and those who should come from Bethlehem
to fill their places, full liberty to come and go
where they pleased.

This amend, probably suggested by Glickhican,
gave great satisfaction. The Monsys, on the
Alleghany, sent a deputy to inform the Wolf
tribe, on the Beaver, that they had adopted and
naturalized the Moravian brethren as Delawares,
desiring Pakanke to confirm the message and
send it forward to the western Delawares, and
the Shawanees also, that the covenant might be
duly kept. Pakanke complied, and relented so
far as to depute the messenger to go back to the
Susquehanna, and invite all the Christian Indians
to come out to Kuskuskee, and build a town
where they pleased.

But though the chiefs were conciliated, the hos-
tility of the warriors and populace increased. It
was discovered in fact that the Moravian colony
had run into the toils of the men who were their
deadliest enemies. The Beaver and the Upper
Ohio had long been the stronghold of the lowest
class of traders, who abhorred the Moravian mis-
sions as fatal to their interests, especially as re-
gards the traffic in spirits. A more miscreant
and corrupt horde, in general, probably never
defiled the earth. Uncontrolled by the provincial
governors, — indeed, rather patronized by most of
them “ in the interest of trade,” — their horse
trains, laden with rum, could gain access where

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127

other white men dared not go. Among their
frauds, they propagated the report among the
Indians that Zeisberger intended to sell his con-
verts to the Cherokees as slaves.

These adversities determined the Moravians to
plunge a step further into the wilderness, and go
to the head chief of the Delawares at Gepelemuk-
pechenk (Stillwater, or Tuscarawi) on the Mus-
kingum. It was near this village that Christian
Frederick Post, the brave, enterprising pioneer of
the Moravians, had established himself in 1761,
with the approbation of the chiefs, after two
important embassies among them as agent for the
governor of Pennsylvania. By marriage with an
Indian wife he had forfeited his regular standing
with the congregation. His intimate acquaintance
with the Indians, and their languages and cus-
toms, so far gained upon them that in 1762 he
was permitted to take Heckewelder to share his
cabin and establish a school for the Indian chil-
dren. But in the autumn the threatened outburst
of Pontiac’s war had compelled them to flee.

The Delawares, it is to be remembered, were of
three tribes or totems — the Turtle, the Turkey
(Monsys), and the Wolf. On the Alleghany and
Beaver they were chiefly Monsys. On the Mus-
kingum they were of the Turtle and Wolf min-
gled. Old Netawatwes (New-comer), the chief
at Tuscarawi, was now head chief of the nation.

Zeisberger and his Indian assistants were well
received by him, and by most of his council. He

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OHIO.

gained his point, but the chiefs were not of one
accord, as will unhappily appear all along until
the end. Early in the following year (1772) the
colony was invited by the council at Tuscarawi,
the Wyandots west of them approving it, to come
with all their Indian brethren from the Alle-
ghany and Susquehanna, and settle on the Mus-
kingum (as the Tuscarawas was then called),
and upon any lands that they might choose.

The United Brethren, east and west, took coun-
sel together, and obeying this call, as they inter-
preted it, Zeisberger and some of the assistants,
who were the executive and police department
in the little state now forming, were sent over to
the Tuscarawas in March to spy out the land.
They entered at the beautiful stretch on the east-
ern bank between Tuscarawi and the confluence
of the Wahlhonding and the Tuscarawas rivers,
which Gist had traversed in 1750, and Bouquet’s
army in 1764. The prospect filled them with
delight. The rich soil, the fine timber, a large
spring, which they specially admired, and the
great abundance of game, afforded all the indica-
tions most to be sought for in an Indian colony.

Journeying onward some twenty miles up the
river from where they had entered, they came to
the Delaware capital. Their gratitude to the
chiefs for the boon they had offered was fitly
acknowledged, and on venturing to state the
choice of land they would like, if permitted, there
was a mutual pleasure on discovering that it was

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129

the very same which the Delawares were intend-
ing for them. The chiefs gave them some miles
on the eastern bank, between their village and
Stillwater Creek, with the guaranty that no other
Indians should intrude there, and that there
should be no molestation of the Christian Indians
or the missionaries, or of any persons attending
their worship. The Moravians established a con-
dition, of equal force, that no white settlers
should be admitted but those associated in the
missions.

The pioneer party, in the removal from the
Beaver to Ohio, consisted of Zeisberger and five
Indian families, twenty-eight persons, who arrived
at this beautiful ground May 3, 1772. Words
could not tell the devout jov of the missionary
and his little flock on alighting at this long-
sought refuge, as they trusted it was to be. The
clearing of the forest, and erection of temporary
cabins, began the next day ; and what shows the
growth of these neophytes in tilth and thrift, as
well as in grace, it was but a few weeks before
they had fields and gardens of the fresh soil sown
with crops of grain and vegetables, and the town
commenced. The site was at the large spring,
and appropriately it was named for it Shoenbrun.1

1 Shoenbrun (beautiful spring) was about two miles southeast
of New Philadelphia. The centenary year of the settlement was
celebrated appropriately. Mr. Jacob, the owner of the spring,
dedicated it, with the large elm overhanging it, to the Union Bi-
ble Society, for preservation, and a memorial stone with suitable
inscriptions was planted near by it.

130

OHIO.

In August arrived the missionaries Ettwein and
Heckewelder, with the main body of Christian
Indians who had been invited from the Alleghany
and the Susquehanna, about two hundred and
fifty in number. These sent a delegation up to
Tuscarawi to give the chiefs notice of their ar-
rival. Their speech of gratitude, and the usual
compliments, passed off with perfect success.
Zeisberger and an escort of the Indian brethren,
also, went down the Muskingum to Waketamika
(Dresden), then a Shawanees town, to propitiate
their good graces. The Shawanees received them
with much respect and favor, and attended Zeis-
berger’s preaching in great numbers. Readers of
Indian history will distinguish this from another
town of the same name on Mad River, and also
the several Wappatomicas and Wappakonetas,
which, like Chillicothe, were towns of number.

This, and further accessions from the east in
September, made it advisable to divide the colony
into two villages. The second was established
ten miles below Shoenbrun, on a high bank of
the river. As it was allotted chiefly to the Mohi-
can new-comers, Shoenbrun being occupied by the
Delawares, the Mohican village took the name of
Gnadenhutten, from their old home on the Le-
high. In April, 1773, the remnants of the mis-
sion on the Beaver joined their brethren in Ohio.
The whole body of the Moravian Indians, so
long sundered and scattered by the bigoted per-
secutions of white men, was now united and at

THE MORAVIANS. 131

rest under the shelter of the unconverted but
more tolerant Delaware warriors.

The plan of Shoenbrun, the other villages being
also laid out much in the same way, was a broad
street extending from the river into the fields, and
another at right angles from this, at some distance
from the river. At their intersection stood the
church, probably the first built in Ohio, forty feet
by thirty in dimensions, made of squared logs and
shingled roof, and rising above it a turret mounted
with the church-bell. The church, at each of the
villages, was the building first completed, and
their consecration was made by Zeisberger an
occasion of great solemnity. Houses of hewn logs
for residences were then erected, at intervals suffi-
cient to permit a garden for each, and before winter
were ready for occupation. Besides the church,
there was in each village a sclioolhouse, and also
a long, commodious building for the entertain-
ment of Indian visitors and wayfarers in their
fashion. Hospitality was a prime virtue of the
Moravians, and the plain but abundant fare which
their Indian housewives knew how to spread be-
fore their guests became famous throughout the
border.

The fundamental conditions established be-
tween the Moravians and the Delaware chiefs
have been stated. Their internal polity, secular
as well as spiritual, is worthy of admiration, and
in some degree may be inferred from the sketch
given of the precepts and example upon which

132

OHIO.

the whole Moravian economy was founded. Their
circumspection of life was not to be occasional
only, but the “ daily word,” and the daily ohurch
service, constantly drew their hearts and minds
to the one great exemplar whom they followed.
They had an external government and policy
also, which was managed by the helpers, or “ Na-
tional Assistants,” — leading Indian brethren, in
consultation with whom the missionaries consti-
tuted the council of government. Twenty u rules
of the congregation,” which were adopted by this
authority, were at the commencement of each
year read in public meeting, and required to be
adopted by the whole congregation. No new
member could gain admission without a solemn
promise to conform to them strictly. If any of
the congregation gave offense or disturbance, it
was the office of the Assistants to admonish the
person in a friendly manner. If persistent or re-
bellious, it was for them to judge whether or not
expulsion should follow. The lands, houses, and
crops of the colony were common property. But
these rules evidently allowed private property to
some extent. u Harm to the cattle, goods, or ef-
fects of another subjected the offender to pay
damage.” The purchase of goods or articles from
warriors, knowing them to have been stolen or
plundered, was punished by expulsion.

Besides these cardinal laws there were police
regulations as to attendance at church and school,
visiting the sick and poor, the levy of contribu-

THE MORAVIANS .

183

tions for the common benefit, etc. The schools
were administered with exceeding care, spelling-
books and readers being prepared by Zeisberger,
and printed in the Delaware language. Village
communities of Indians living under restraints
and influences like these might have diffused Mr.
Matthew Arnold’s creed of “sweetness and light”
very far among such tribes as were then inhabit-
ing Ohio. The neighboring Indians were soon
attracted by this novel scene. It was not by a
change of heart only that the brethren counted
upon the efficacy of their cause. Through the
door and school of industry they sought to draw
the Indians to the closer ties of Christian peace,
order, and love. A powerful auxiliary behind this,
upon which they counted for the consummation
of their work, — one always interesting to the sav-
age, and which soon gave the Christian Indians a
most captivating advantage in the eyes of their
savage neighbors, — was that they always had
plenty to eat. It was their farms and shops, their
industrial training and pursuits, their comfortable
houses and homes, along the banks of the Mus-
kingum, which attracted the Indian attention.
These men, to be sure, would not fight, and this
excited wrath and bickerings when war parties
were to be raised and they refused to go out.
But year by year the hungry, foot-sore warriors,
in their marching to and fro, saw these peaceful
fields, teeming with harvests and dotted with
cattle, horses, and pigs, and were glad to stop and

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OHIO.

swallow their indignation with the hearty fare
and welcome always ready for them at the Mora-
vian villages. Still more grateful were the sick
and wounded laggers, who were often received in
the hospital and nursed by the “ single sisters.”
These intrusions were not unwelcome to the
brethren, but rather courted. It was their
policy to attract visitors, as these never failed,
such was the responsive courtesy of the Indian,
to attend the daily meetings, hear the daily word,
and watch the effects of its teaching. A passing
war party, in distress, was invited into one of the
villages and supplied with food and other necessi-
ties. The captain declared his surprise. He was
from a great distance, and had heard a very differ-
ent story. “ At the Delaware village they made
wry faces at us,” he said, “ but here the men,
women, and children all have made us welcome.”

A visitor of another character dropped in at
Shoenbrun in 1773, — the Rev. David Jones, him-
self a missionary, sent to the West by the Baptist
Church in New Jersey. But his different experi-
ence with the Indians illustrated the superiority
of the Moravian method. The journal of this
eccentric worthy, who finally became an army chap-
lain under General Wayne, gives an interesting
account of his two circuits of “ missionating ” in
Ohio in the years 1772 and 1773. In the first
he descended the Ohio as far as the Kanawha, in
company with George Rogers Clark and other
land prospectors. His second tour, in the winter

THE MORAVIANS.

135

of 1772 and 1773, for the conversion of the
Shawanees, led him down to the Scioto, which he
mentions as opposite the boundary of the u new
province” (Walpole).

The Shawanees had abandoned their town at
the mouth of the Scioto, and transferred them-
selves to the plains on the line between the pres-
ent counties of Ross and Pickaway. Their chief
town was Chillicothe (Oldtown, or Frankfort),
near the north fork of Paint Creek. Between
this and the Scioto were Blue Jacket’s town, and
Pickaweeke, the latter named from the Picks
formerly settled there, who were perhaps Miamis,
as at Pickalinny, or Piqua.

Jones went up the Scioto to Blue Jacket’s town
on Deer Creek, and was introduced by the traders
(several of whom he mentions as living at this
and other towns on Deer Creek and the Scioto) to
the Shawanees king. He spent the winter en-
deavoring to persuade the Shawanees, who it will
be remembered were now becoming more and
more refractory and hostile, that he was no trader,
but had come to speak to his Indian brothers of
heavenly things. But Mr. Jones had not the
slightest knowledge of Indian language or char-
acter, and with the small pittance allowed by his
society could not afford an interpreter. With no
outfit but his theology, his mysterious silence and
his singular dress excited a suspicion that he was
a spy, and but for the friendly interference of
the traders, his situation would have been very

136

OHIO .

unsafe. Departing from the Shawanees for Fort
Pitt, he rode across the country by way of the
Standing Stone and Salt Lick Creek (the Lick-
ing) to the Muskingum. Near the Licking he
lodged a night at Ellet’s. 46 This Shawanee,” he
noted, u is very rich in cattle, horses, and captive
negroes.”

He described the colony at Shoenbrun as al-
ready so well advanced, in February, 1773, that
by frugality they had built neat log-houses to
dwell in, and a good house for divine worship,
with a floor and chimney and comfortable seats.
Their meetings morning and evening, and their
conduct in worship, he found praiseworthy. There
was some indifference on Zeisberger’s part, he
thought, when he offered to preach to the Indians.
But he was gratified the next morning, though he
does not say what success he had.

Mr. Jones’s visit led to an accession of some im-
portance to the Moravians. At one of the Indian
towns down the river, where they were holding
a drunken feast and dance under favor of the
traders, Mr. Jones unwisely intermeddled, and
but for the protection of Killbuck, a Delaware
captain, and grandson of the head chief Neta-
watwes, would probably have lost his life. After
the debauch was over, he had the courage to re-
appear, and preached against the sin and ruin of
whiskey, to such purpose that Killbuck destroyed
the whole stock of the traders, and warned them
that if they brought any more they should be

THE MORAVIANS.

137

scalped. Killbuck, not long afterwards, followed
this up by taking sides openly for the missions.

It is easy to perceive from Mr. Jones’s mistakes
how the Indians were drawn to the Moravians.
Good-will once secured, their great aim was to
convert the savage to their life of peace and love.
To accomplish it, these wild sons of the forest
were constantly urged to turn their thoughts
away from blood and rapine to the love of Him
who gave to the world all its humanity, and in
whose bosom the red man and the white alike
found rest. The daily hymns and worship which
so much engaged the Indians, all the exhortations
of the preachers, turned upon the one great point
of impelling them to live and die like Him who
died rather than resist the violence of his enemies.
It sought a total reverse of their nature. But the
passion and crucifixion, as wrought up in the in-
tense and fervent pictures of the Moravian ex-
horters, seldom failed to rivet the attention of
even the fiercest warrior ; for it was that supreme
heroism of the captive, in the last agony of tor-
ture, which was his grandest aspiration, and he
was ready to adore it. While the unregenerate
brave looked with scorn upon the Christian for-
giveness and humility which could turn the other
cheek when struck, yet before this ideal many of
them yielded, and in silent homage with the
“praying Indians,” as they were called, forsook
the war-path. Among these were a number of
distinguished chiefs.

138

OHIO .

But in an outline the features of this little
commonwealth cannot all be given. Considering
the absolute ‘favor which it enjoyed for years
among the Ohio tribes, it can hardly be doubted
that, if these missions on the Muskingum had
been established either ten years sooner or ten
years later, the Delawares, the Shawanees, the
Wyandots, and not improbably the Miamis, would
have adopted their belief.

As it happened, there was an ill-fated conjunc-
tion both in the time and the place of their es-
tablishment. At the beginning, as observed, there
had not been entire harmony in the invitation to
them by the Delaware chiefs. Even Netawatwes
was not in favor of it, though his reception of
them was generous. But the war party, of which
Captain Pipe was leader, was opposed to them.
He was of the Wolf clan, and distinguished in
war, but more remarkable for his active and wily
intrigues in the council. He was ambitious, but
not the equal, either in prowess or ability, of his
principal antagonist, Captain White-eyes, the head
war-chief.

Things went smoothly for the Moravians, how-
ever, until the outbreak of the Senecas and
Shawanees in 1774, caused by the infamous mur-
ders of Logan’s family and other Indians by the
border ruffians on the Ohio. The Shawanees town
at Watamaki was destroyed by Colonel McDonald
at the beginning of the Dunmore war, and the
strain upon the Delaware to join these tribes

THE MORAVIANS .

139

thus came very close, and Pipe was urgent.
Glickhican, at the head of six Moravian Assist-
ants, went up to the council at Tuscarawi to sup-
port White-eyes and the peace party. White-
eyes barely carried the day, Netawatwes inclining
for war. But though the hostiles were defeated
at Kanawha, and humiliated by Dunmore’s march
to the Scioto, the evil disposition towards the
Moravians, to whom White-eyes was secretly in-
clining, was so manifest that he suddenly with-
drew himself from Netawatwes and the council.
His power and leadership were so important, and
Netawatwes was so much alarmed at the prospect
of another defection like that of Glickhican, that
he not only acknowledged the injustice he had
done to White-eyes, but wholly changed his atti-
tude to the Moravians. Glickhican and the As-
sistants, now insisted on behalf of the Delaware
brethren that their teachers (the missionaries)
be treated as members of the Delaware nation.
Netawatwes at once proclaimed his change of
sentiment to the council, and on White-eyes’ de-
mand it was decreed, in the name of the whole
Delaware nation, that from thenceforth they
would receive the word of God ; that the Chris-
tian Indians and their teachers should enjoy per-
fect liberty, and the same rights in the Delaware
country as other Indians, and all who wished to
go to them and receive the gospel should be un-
molested.

Upon this event old Netawatwes expressed

140 ohio.

great joy, and until the day of his death was con-
stant to the Moravians. He and his people soon
afterwards abandoned Tuscarawi and established
a new capital at Goschocking (Coshocton). The
chiefs, in consequence of this change, desired to
have a mission village nearer to that place.
Lichtenau was therefore established by their
authority, three miles below Goschocking, on the
Muskingum. In April, 1776, Zeisberger and
Heckewelder installed a colony from Shoenbrun
in possession. Fields, building lots, and gardens
were laid out, with a long street through them
north and south, and the chapel in the middle.

For still greater security to the colony, the
Wyandots were consulted, the lands on the Mus-
kingum having been ceded by them to the Dela-
wares thirty years before. The two nations now
united in confirming to the Christian Indians all
the lands on the Muskingum from Tuscarawi (Ge-
pelemukpechunk), down to the bend below New-
comerstown, a distance of more than thirty miles.
The population of the Moravian villages at the
close of 1775 was four hundred and fourteen per-
sons.

Events of much significance were the visits of
distinguished Shawanees. One from the Hock-
hocking joined the congregation. A chief from
one of the Scioto towns, accompanied by his wife,
a captain, and several counselors, spent some days
at Gnadenhiitten. Much the most important,
however, was Cornstalk, with a retinue of more

THE MORAVIANS.

141

than a hundred persons, who was entertained for a
week with due distinction. “ I shall never forget
your kindness,” he said in departing, “ and will
acquaint all my friends that we have established
this bond of friendship.” But he was murdered
two years afterwards by some Kanawha militia.

The calamity of the Moravians was the war of
the American Revolution. It developed the dan-
gerous fact that their villages, Lichtenau espe-
cially, were close upon the direct line between
Pittsburgh and Detroit, the outposts of the two
contending forces. Commissioners appointed by
Congress had held a council of the Six Nations
and western Indians, October, 1775, at Pittsburgh.
The Moravians also were invited, but Zeisberger
considerately declined. The western tribes other
than the Delawares were manifestly unfriendly,
and leaned to the side of the king. The division
among the Delawares was known. The commis-
sioners and the agent of Congress did not urge
them to take sides, but rather to sit still and not
take up the hatchet at all. This joyful report was
taken back by their deputies, and it was there-
fore announced that the Delawares stood neutral.

But there had been hot words in the council
at Pittsburgh. White-eyes would not conceal his
favor toward the American cause. A speaker of
the Six Nations in a haughty way reminded him
that the Delawares, in their eyes, had no voice or
authority in the matter. White-eyes, long since
tired of this treatment, replied with great disdain

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OHIO.

that he knew the Six Nations considered him and
his people as conquered and as their inferiors,
44 but/’ he exclaimed, waving his hand in the direc-
tion of the Alleghany River, 44 all the country on
the other side of that river is mine ; ” this being
the Indian orator’s phrase for impersonating his
nation.

So bold and defiant a speech as this had not
before been thrown at the Six Nations, and it was
soon made the pretext for another division in the
council of the Delawares ; for Pipe, together with
the Monsys, took the ground that this would
undoubtedly draw down the resentment of the
Six Nations upon them. By this he succeeded
in drawing off from the Moravians a Monsy chief
named Newalike, followed by a number of the
same clan, who were made to believe their chief
knew of some imminent peril about to fall upon
the Delawares, and wished to save them. These
apostates filled Shoenbrun with discord, and Zeis-
berger, fearing the disaffection would spread, pro-
posed that the faithful part of the congregation
at that place should abandon it. The greater
portion withdrew in April to Lichtenau. The
result was that Newalike and his adherents moved
off to Sandusky. Pipe withdrew from the coun-
cil ; and his town some fifteen miles up the Wahl-
honding became the centre of the malcontents.
The peace party under Netawatwes, supported by
White-eyes, Killbuck, Big Cat, and other chiefs,
not only sustained the missions, but constantly
consulted the missionaries in their affairs.

THE MORAVIANS.

143

The worth of the Moravian missions, and their
power over the Indians, is seen in the fact that
for five years after the breaking out of the war
they kept the Delawares in this position of neu-
trality, in spite of the incessant provocations of
the war party, as well as the Wyandots and
Shawanees, to make them join the British inter-
est. The death of Netawatwes in 1776, and of
White-eyes in 1778, were severe blows, the latter
particularly. White-eyes was aiding General Mc-
Intosh in establishing Fort Laurens at this time.
When reports were circulated in 1777 that the
British governor at Detroit was dissatisfied with
the Delawares, and attributed their refusal to
unite in arms with his Indians to the influence of
the missionaries, a deputation of the chiefs, accom-
panied by two of the Moravian Indians, carried
a message to the governor. His reply was, that
“ they should consider the missionaries as an in-
valuable treasure, on account of the good they had
done among the Indians, and should by no means
part with them.”

Another tribute to the missionaries soon after-
wards was even more signal. A Wyandot em-
bassy had been offering the war-belt again at
Goschocking, and went home enraged with the
answer, which was that “the Delawares had en-
gaged to hold the chain of friendship with both
hands, and therefore could spare no hand to take
hold of a war-belt.” In August, two hundred
Wyandots, headed by Pomoacan, their half-king,

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OHIO.

suddenly appeared at Goschocking. To gain time,
Glickkican advised his people to give them a
kind reception and feed them well. Under his
management, the Wyandots to their great sur-
prise were met, on their arrival, by a number of
the Lichtenau people with loads of provisions,
and entertained by one of Glickhican’s choicest
speeches ; the conclusion of it being an earnest
appeal to the half -king that he would “ consider
their teachers as his own body and love them as
cousins.”

Pomoacan declared that Glickhican’s words had
penetrated his heart, and that he would immedi-
ately consult his warriors. In a short time he
announced their full acceptance of the proposal
made to them. “ Go on,” he said, “ and obey your
teachers, and be not afraid that any harm shall be
done to them. Attend to your worship and never
mind other affairs. You see us, indeed, going to
war, but you may remain easy and need not think
about it.” The next day the half-king, with his
chief captain and eighty-two warriors, went down
to Lichtenau, and after meeting and shaking
hands at the schoolhouse with Zeisberger and
Edwards, they were entertained at another boun-
teous meal, spread under an arbor of green
boughs. Every Indian was loaded with as much
as he could carry to Lichtenau. Pomoacan sent
back messengers to the Wyandot chiefs at San-
dusky, and to the governor at Detroit, with an
account of the covenant he had made, and an

THE MORAVIANS.

145

assurance that he and his warriors had acknowl-
edged the white brethren to be their fathers. The
Moravians were distrustful of Pomoacan, for they
knew his intriguing ways, but he kept faith with
them awhile by taking care that none of his war
parties should disturb them.

In the next year a similar encounter was
warded off, with a more singular result. The
principal war chief of the Canada Wyandots
(Hurons) had been sent by the commandant at
Detroit, with ninety chosen warriors, to make a
border raid on the Ohio. He halted near Lich-
tenau, and sent in a message to Glickhican, his
comrade in the late French war. The latter went
out to meet his old friend, and brought him and
his captains, at their own request, into town, to
visit the missionaries. The speech-making be-
came very impressive ; the more so as the Huron,
after complimenting his Christian cousins and
their teachers, observed that he as well as they
had teachers and a house for prayers, and also
the large book (Bible). 44 But,” said Glickhican,
in replying to this part of the speech, 44 I doubt
whether yours be the same book from which our
teachers instruct us. In the book which they
have, God commands in one place, 4 Thou shalt
not kill ; ’ in another place, 4 Love your enemies ; 5
nay, it says, 4 Pray for them.’ Can it be supposed,
then, that He that created man should not be
offended when they destroy each other ? When
we were accomplices, brother, each of us strove to

146

OHIO.

outdo the other in murdering human beings ; but
we knew no better. You and I were friends when
we were young, and have remained such to this
day, when we both are old. Let us do alike and
put away from us what is bad, and forbidden by
God, the killing of God's creatures.”

When Glickhican finished, the war chief retired
to his camp. In an hour he returned with a sin-
gle attendant only, and requested an interview
with the National Assistants, of whom Glickhican
was the head. “ I have considered your words,”
he said, “and will now open my heart to you.”
He stated his office, his orders, and his present
duty to the governor. “ I will tell you how I will
act. I will go within a day’s march of the Ohio.
I will capture a prisoner, who shall be taken to
my father (the governor), with the charge that he
be not hurt. With that I will return him his
hatchet, which he forced upon me. Not a life
shall be lost by my party, and in ten days you
shall see me here again, if the Great Spirit spares
my life.”

Taking his farewell, in ten days he returned
with a prisoner, as he had said, and stopping only
for a meal passed on. He appointed a time with
Glickhican when he would return to see him, but
he would not approach that place again, he said,
with arms in his hand.

The same year which deprived the Moravian
missions of the powerful support of White-eyes
had brought upon them a dire calamity in the

THE MORAVIANS.

147

arrival at Goschocking of McKee, Elliott, and
Simon Girty, who had been under arrest at Pitts-
burgh as spies and secret agents of the Tory cause.
They had escaped, and were now entering upon
that savage career which made their names infa-
mous in Western history. McKee was the chief,
and the band took Captain Pipe into their coun-
cils. The Moravians, it may be inferred, became
objects of their malignity. These men were ac-
quainted with all the Indian tribes, and were soon
spreading false reports among them, which were
calculated to alarm even the friendly Delawares,
as to the intentions and plans of the Americans.
Their object was to arouse the Indian nations, and
lead them to unite at once in driving the Ameri-
cans across the Ohio River, if they would preserve
themselves from being murdered or made slaves.
White-eyes’ last triumph had been in suppress-
ing one of these lies, which had nearly turned the
whole Delaware nation against him on the ground
that he was a friend of the Americans. Now that
he was 44 put out of the way,” which was solemnly
ascribed to the 44 will of the Great Spirit, that the
nation might be saved,” these incendiaries soon
contrived to have things their own way.

McKee, who had been deputy Indian agent at
Pittsburgh before the war, now became agent and
manager of this department under the governor
at Detroit, and rumors were thick that the gov-
ernor was determined to punish all Indians, Mora-
vians not excepted, who would not turn out and

148

OHIO.

fight the American rebels. The governor (Hamil-
ton) was captured in February, 1779, by Colonel
Clark, in his fort at Vincennes, but the excitement
and hostility against the missions increased.
Heckewelder intimates that much of the inhu-
manity charged upon Hamilton, for which he was
kept imprisoned in Virginia, was the work of
McKee and his understrappers, and was unknown
to the governor. Smarting under the severe
measures which the commander at Pittsburgh had
adopted in his treatment of them, the hostility
of these men to the United States became un-
bounded. They resorted to every possible device
to excite a general war upon the frontier, and the
missionaries were the special objects of their ha-
tred, not only because they were holding back the
Delaware nation, but because McKee suspected
them of sending information to the American gov-
ernment and officers of the doings in the Indian
country. Through their instigation two attempts
were made to assassinate Zeisberger, Girty him-
self leading one of the parties for this purpose.
Both were defeated by the vigilance of the mis-
sion Indians.

These plots and Pipe’s increasing influence
over the Delaware council created such a division
at Goschocking, that Lichtenau was considered by
the missionaries and assistants as no longer safe
from the marauding parties continually passing
that way. In March, 1780, it was abandoned,
the chapel being pulled down that it might not

TEE MORAVIANS.

149

be applied to heathenish purposes. The congre-
gation set out, by land and water, to the new vil-
lage of Salem, now built twenty miles up the
river and within six miles of Gnadenhiitten.
Here, with the same energy which they had dis-
played in their previous colonizing, they built a
new chapel of hewn timber, hung a bell, and con-
secrated the edifice by the 22d of May, and the
people were settled in their new houses before
winter.

Very soon after this removal, Captain Pipe
made Goschocking so uncomfortable that Kill-
buck and his colleagues of the peace party were
compelled to abdicate and seek safety for them-
selves at Pittsburgh. Pipe, at the same time,
fearing that he might be attacked by the Ameri-
cans, went off with his adherents of the Wolf
tribe to the Wyandots at Upper Sandusky. Thus
the banks of the Muskingum, so quiet and happy
for years under the gracious influence of the
Moravians, were again given over to the fortunes
of war. The three villages, nowin close proximity
with each other, and removed from the great war-
path twenty miles below them, moved on in their
accustomed life of daily worship and labors, as
though unconscious, in their faith and trust, that
evil was near.

But the hideous truth now dawned upon them,
that, secure as they felt themselves among the
savages, their real enemies were the whites, and
that the worst of these were those to whom they

150

OHIO.

were most friendly — the Americans. It seems
inexplicable, but the populace who now infested
the Upper Ohio had taken it into their heads that
the Moravian Indians were secretly their foes,
and aiding if not perpetrating the murders and
ravages on the frontier ; all this merely because
they fed the passing war parties, as has been re-
lated. Their towns were stigmatized as the “half-
way houses” of the British on the road to Detroit.
The least degree of intelligence or generosity
should have comprehended the situation.

The first display of this frenzy was in August,
1780. Colonel Broadhead, the commander at
Pittsburgh, marched over to the Muskingum with
eight hundred troops, regular and militia, to sup-
press the hostile rising at Goschocking. He
halted two miles below Salem, and sent in a
request for provisions, which were immediately
supplied both there and at Gnadenhiitten. Hecke-
welder went out to the camp, and was assured by
Colonel Broadhead that no fault could be found
with the missionaries by the Americans or by
the British, acting, as they were, upon principles
of humanity and zeal for the good of the people
among whom they had been received. In the
midst of this interview an officer entered to re-
port that a part of the militia were breaking out
for the purpose of destroying the Moravian vil-
lages. The murderous design was checked with
some difficulty ; Colonel Shepherd, of Wheeling,
in command of another detachment of militia, be-
ing particularly efficient in suppressing it.

THE MORAVIANS.

151

In strong contrast with the turbulence of these
white savages was the behavior of the Delaware
war chief Pachgantschihilas, who with eighty
warriors soon afterwards went to Gnadenhiitten
to arrest Killbuck. Having searched the town,
and being assured that the chief had gone to
Pittsburgh, he summoned the National Assistants
of the three towns to meet him. He warned
them of the dangerous position they occupied, as
just shown by Colonel Broadhead’s expedition ;
and while he did not reproach them for their love
of peace rather than war, he urged them to go
with him to a secure place (the Scioto or the
Miami), where they might worship in peace, and
have their farms and cattle and game just as
abundantly as here. In conclusion he said :
“ Think on what I have now told you, and be-
lieve that if you stay where you now are, one day
or other the Long Knives (Virginians) will in
their usual way speak fair words to you, but at
the same time murder you.” The words were
prophetic, and but for the unfortunate disbelief
of the assistants in the possibility of such an
event, a temporary removal, under the protection
which the war chief intended, might have saved
the mission and their villages.

Notwithstanding disturbances in the outer world,
this simple and confiding people enjoyed perfect
peace and quiet until August in the following
year, hardly seeing or hearing of the hostile In-
dians. They not only had implicit faith in the

152

OHIO .

forbearance of the surrounding tribes, and equal
incredulity that the whites would injure them,
but in their way had counseled with their divine
Head and Master, and assured themselves that it
was His will they should abide where they were.

Unknown to them, they were between two sets
of white men equally bent upon their destruction :
one consisted of McKee and his confederates, who
were striving for the mastery of the Ohio Indians,
in order to hurl them in a mass upon the weak
frontier, which Congress had left unprotected ;
the other, of the low, uncivilized frontiersmen,
more cruel and bloody than the Indians, who hated
the introduction of Christianity, or any other
means of reclaiming the red man. The onset of
the two happened almost as though it had been
planned in concert.

How the British commander at Detroit, in 1781,
was induced to reverse the just and generous fa-
vor shown to the Moravians by his predecessor
in 1777, is not yet explained. Ohio at this time
was under the government of Quebec, and this,
like other matters going on in Ohio from 1774
until 1795, cannot be cleared up until the reports
and correspondence during that period between
the governor at Detroit and his chief at Quebec
are more fully published. It was the opinion of
Zeisberger and Heckewelder, after the frequent
conferences which they had with the governor at
Detroit, that McKee was the prime cause of the
trouble, and that he, by procuring false reports

THE MORAVIANS.

153

from Elliott, Pipe, Pomoacan, and various agents,
persuaded the governor that the missionaries were
partisans of the American cause, and engaged in
a correspondence with its officers prejudicial to
the British interest. It must be admitted that
in some degree this was true, as since discovered
from Zeisberger’s diary.

It was this that determined Major De Peyster,
the commandant at Detroit (and governor by
courtesy), to rid himself of neighbors so trouble-
some and dangerous. The British agent of Indian
affairs (Heckewelder says McKee) called upon the
council of the Six Nations to remove them. They
undertook the commission, in their usual wary
manner, by sending a message to the Ottawas and
Chippewas and calling on them to attend to it.
They refused, declaring that the Christian Indians
had done them no injury.

The message was then sent to the Wyandots.
Pomoacan half consented ; pretending that he
would do so only to save the Christian Delawares
from destruction. McKee now appeared with
Elliott, Pipe, and Girty, and, as a further induce-
ment, offered him a reinforcement of Delawares,
Shawanees, and Ottawas, enough to double his
force, and promised him the command. On these
conditions, and that Elliott and Pipe should go
with him, Pomoacan consented. McKee now re-
tired to his place on the Scioto (near Oldtown) to
await the consummation of his plan.

The expedition was kept secret, so that none

154

OHIO.

but the captains knew its destination ; and the
Moravians were surprised when Pomoacan, with
Pipe and a hundred and forty warriors, suddenly
appeared at Salem on the 10th of August, 1781,
accompanied by Elliott. His tent, with the Brit-
ish flag hoisted above it, formed the centre of
their camp. Glickhican went out to learn what
this was for, and returned with Pomoacan and
Elliott to the house of Hecke welder, the resident
missionary. After the usual salutations, the
Wyandot chief announced that a matter of im-
portance required the attendance of the chief men
of all the villages. A meeting at Gnadenhiitten
was appointed for the next day, and Pomoacan
and his followers at once proceeded to that place.
In the course of the next four days three hundred
warriors had assembled.

For three weeks a controversy was waged
whether the missions should be removed; the
Christian Indians expostulating against the cruelty
and starvation to which they would be exposed,
but offering to go if allowed until the spring to
prepare for removal. Pomoacan and even Pipe
and their warriors thought this reasonable and
were satisfied, but Elliott was so much displeased
that he made himself offensive. The warriors, in
retaliation, began to shoot at the British flag, and
Elliott had to haul it down. After ten days of
wrangling, the Indians standing out for mercy to
the Moravians, though some were for murdering
them, Elliott carried his point by a threat that

THE MORAVIANS.

155

unless they complied with his demand he should
leave them, and the governor would abandon them
to the Americans as enemies.

This drove the Indians to extremities. Sud-
denly, on the 3d of September, the missionaries
were seized and robbed, their families turned out
of doors, their houses pillaged, their books and
papers burned or scattered to the winds. Al-
though it had not been intended to disturb the
Christian Indians, the excited warriors soon for-
got all distinction. There was no bloodshed, but
the three villages were a scene of general robbery
and violence. The missionaries and their families
were to be banished, but all their people, except
such as had already fled, chose to follow7 them.
Glickhican in some way gave offense, and sixteen
Delawares were sent down to Salem to seize him.
They surrounded his house, but hesitated about
entering. Observing their timidity, he stepped
out and thus accosted them: “Friends! I con-
clude you are come for me. If so, obey your
orders. I am ready to submit. You appear to
dread Glickhican as formerly known to you.
Yes, there was a time when I would have scorned
to be assailed in the manner you now meditate ;
but I am no more Glickhican.” With trembling
hands they tied him and took him to Pomoacan,
but upon explanation he was discharged.1

1 This gleam of the warrior was unusual for Glickhican. On
the war-path his name had been terrible. But, in his degree,
there is no finer example of the “fierceness of man refrained."

156

OHIO.

On September 11th, the people of the three vil-
lages assembled at Salem, with such horses, cattle,
and effects as Elliott had left them. A last and
most impressive service was held in the chapel, and
the sacraments of baptism and the eucharist were
administered. The whole caravan then moved
off, some by water and some by land, up the
Walhonding, to Gokhosing (Owlstown), at the
confluence of Owl and Mohican creeks. From
here to their destination (Upper Sandusky) all
journeyed by land.

In November, Pipe was ordered by the governor
to bring the missionaries before him at Detroit
for investigation. The scene as described by
Zeisberger and Heckewelder was highly interest-
ing. The commandant, Major Arendt Schuyler
De Peyster, of the 8th British Infantry, a native
of New York, held a formal council, where, seated
amid his officers and the Indians, the missionaries
and assistants grouped on one side, Pipe and his
friends on the other, he ordered in an emphatic
manner that Pipe should now repeat, in the pres-
ence of the Moravians, the charges which he had
at various times brought against them. The
chieftain was abashed, and turning to his accom-
plices, bade them speak. They were equally at
fault. Pipe thereupon, with the versatility in

This humble convert took the name of Isaac ; and in the mas-
sacre, March 7, 1782, he yielded as a child, when the raising of
his war-whoop to the forty-six men who perished with him might
have scattered their murderers in dismay.

THE MORAVIANS.

157

which he excelled, began to extol the missionaries,
and implored the governor “ to say good words
for them, as they were friends of the Delawares,
and he should be sorry if they were treated
hard.”

The governor exposed his treachery by requir-
ing Pipe to repeat the accusations which he had
been sending him. He acknowledged his wrong,
and being asked by the governor what was now
to be done with the missionaries, he advised that
they be sent back to their homes. They were sent
back to Sandusky, clothed and supplied by Major
De Peyster, but no amends was made for their
wrongs. Thus far the English.

The intense sufferings of the poor people from
exposure and starvation during the winter in-
duced a hundred or more under Glickhican and
five other assistants to return in February, 1782,
to their villages to save the corn left standing in
their fields. On the 7th of March they had just
finished and were about to return, when a merci-
less crew of ninety men from the Ohio, one of
whom named David Williamson passed for colonel,
came upon them, and having, under pretense of
escorting them to Pittsburgh, secured their guns,
hatchets, and even pocket-knives, shut them up in
two houses, where they slaughtered all of them
like sheep, men and women, ninety-six in number !
This colonel left it to a vote whether he should
keep his word, or murder the deluded prisoners,
and only eighteen of the ninety were honest

158

OHIO .

enough to oppose this basest of massacres. Yet
good Dr. Doddrige has apologized for Williamson
as “ loaded with unmerited reproach, because he
was only a militia officer, who could advise but
not command.”

The Nemesis, in the following year, was the
more shocking, inasmuch as this man escaped, and
the victim who suffered for his atrocious crime
was a man of worth. Another expedition, of larger
numbers, set out from the Ohio River in May,
1782, to destroy what was left of the Moravian
Indians at Sandusky, and also to lay 'waste the
Wyandot towns. Colonel William Crawford, un-
happily for him, and it is said against his will,
was elected over Williamson by this rabble to
be their commander, the latter being chosen as
second. They marched to the Sandusky Plains,
watched by the Indians at every camp, but Mora-
vians and Wyandots alike had disappeared. In
much confusion, arising from the insubordination
of his men, Colonel Crawford wheeled about to
return, and at once was assailed on every side by
swarms of Indians lurking in the high grass. His
force became divided, and a large party under
Williamson made their escape. Colonel Crawford
was captured, and fell into the hands of Pipe.
This chief, by reason perhaps of De Peyster’s
rebuke, but still more from rage at the wanton
massacre of the Christian Delawares, for which it
seems he died repentant, was inexorable to every
appeal for mercy to Crawford, in which even

THE MORAVIANS.

159

Girty, according to one account, joined, much to
his peril, and caused him, after horrible torture, to
be burned at the stake.

So perished the Moravian missions on the Mus-
kingum. Not that the pious founders ceased
their labors, or that these consecrated scenes knew
them no more. But their Indian communities,
the germ of their work, the sign of what was to
be accomplished by them in the great Indian
problem, were scattered and gone. Zeisberger, at
their head, labored with the remnants of their
congregation for years in Canada. They then
transferred themselves temporarily to settlements
on the Sandusky, the Huron, and the Cuyahoga
rivers. At last he and Heckewelder, with the
survivors of these wanderings, went back to their
lands on the Tuscarawas, now surrounded by the
whites, but fully secured to them by the generos-
ity of Congress.

It is understood, though Heckewelder in his
modest narrative does not mention it, that in
1798 he visited Gnadenhiitten, and gathered up
the relics of the ninety-six victims burned in the
houses in which they were murdered. All were
buried in the cellar of one of these houses, and a
mound raised over the spot.

Goshen was established by Zeisberger near the
old site of Shoenbrun, and here he had the happi-
ness in 1803 to receive his bishop, Loskiel, the
author of the best history in English of the Mora-
vians. Here also, in 1808, full of years and of

160

OHIO .

labors for his Master bravely and faithfully done,
he died in the eighty-eighth year of his age.
Heckewelder in 1801 reestablished the church at
Gnadenhiitten also, and there made his residence
until 1809; being postmaster, justice of the peace,
and one of the associate judges of the Court of
Common Pleas, as well as pastor.

The work thus struck down was wisely and
well framed. If not successful, it was at any rate
unexcelled as an attempt to bring the Indian and
white races on this continent into just coordina-
tion. So far has failure outweighed success in
this harmonizing of the two races, that future
ages, it is to be feared, will deem the failure a
blot upon the civilization and intelligence of this
period.

That these missions, though not enduring, as
sometimes imputed, were none the less the pri-
mordial establishment of Ohio, is as true as that
Plymouth was the beginning of Massachusetts.
Neither lasted long, but that was no fault of the
Moravians. Plymouth, though equally obsolete,
is proudly commemorated by the sons of Massa-
chusetts. The Moravians may justly be remem-
bered and honored as the pilgeims of ohio.

CHAPTER VII.

THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY.

Before the Declaration of Independence, the
Continental Congress had called upon the colo-
nies to establish governments each for itself. A
Constitution was adopted by the Virginia conven-
tion, in which a formal cession was made to Mary-
land, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania of the
territories which had been set apart to them by
the king nearly a hundred and fifty years before,
upon the forfeiture of the Virginia charter, and
concluding with a manifesto which at once chal-
lenged attention : —

“ The western and northern extent of Virginia shall
in all other respects stand as fixed by the charter of
1609, and by the public treaty of peace between the
courts of Britain and France in the year 1763, unless
by act of this legislature one or more governments be
established westward of the Allegheny Mountains ; and
no purchase of lands shall be made of the Indian na-
tions but on behalf of the public by authority of the
General Assembly .”

This was a remarkable declaration, considering
that Virginia was not referred to in the treaty of
1763, and its extent by the charter of 1609 was

162

OHIO.

fixed only as “ that space or circuit of land lying
from the seacoast of the precinct aforesaid up
into the land throughout from sea to sea, west
and northwest,” bounds which to this day have
never been defined, or even intelligible, so that
the extent of the domain was entirely unknown
except so far as the province actually occupied
and held the country.

Nor was it happily framed as a manifesto, if
such was its purpose. The same prerogative by
which it conceded Maryland, North Carolina, and
Pennsylvania to have been detached, had, by the
proclamation of 1763, restricted all the colonies,
Virginia inclusive, within the limits of the Alle-
ghany ridge. Cromwell’s recognition of the Vir-
ginia charter in 1651 is sometimes cited in aid,
but was futile. No act of the Commonwealth
had any validity in English law. Even the years
of its existence are counted as part of the reign
of Charles II.

The treaty of Fort Stanwix, which by the very
terms of the order in council was to settle the
boundary line between the several provinces, as
well as the Indian tribes, had extended the limit
westward to the Tennessee River, but bounded it
northward by the south bank of the Ohio River.
This had been followed by an act of Parliament,
supreme in English law, by which the region
thus doubly reserved to the crown and divided
from Virginia was annexed to the Province of
Quebec, and at the time of this manifesto was

THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY. 163

under its government and control. This was rec-
ognized by the act of Congress, March 26, 1804,
directing that all legal grants in the Northwest
by the French authorities prior to the Treaty
of Paris in 1763, and by the British authorities
prior to the treaty of peace in 1783, should be
recorded in the land-offices. This was the status
of the Northwest Territory when the war of the
Revolution broke out ; and so it remained until
1783, except so far as it was affected by the cap-
ture of the British posts at Kaskaskias and Vin-
cennes.

But the position assumed by Virginia put a
stop to the Articles* of Confederation. In the
first draft it was proposed that Congress, among
other powers, should limit the bounds of colonies
which, by charter, proclamation, or other pre-
tense, were said to extend to the South Sea, and
assign territories for new colonies. When the
bill emerged from the committee of the whole,
this provision had disappeared. The articles
were referred to the States, and in July, 1778,
were found to have been ratified by all except
New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. As a
unanimous assent was necessary, the confedera-
tion was defeated.

The Maryland delegates then proposed to
amend by restoring the provision as to western
lands.- The proposition was defeated by the
votes of the States of New Hampshire, Massachu-
setts, Connecticut, Virginia, South Carolina, and

164

OHIO.

Georgia, against those of Rhode Island, New Jer-
sey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland ; the
delegates of New York being equally divided, and
those of North Carolina absent.

New Jersey and Delaware subsequently gave
their concurrence. Maryland resolved, single-
handed, to maintain her position, unless an article
were added by which the country ceded by
France to Great Britain should, if wrested from
the latter by the common war, become the com-
mon property of the Thirteen States. The Mary-
land legislature issued a declaration of their mo-
tive and principles, and instructed their delegates
in Congress to abide by them.

The unseemly and inopportune strife was
brought to a crisis by a Virginia statute, passed
in the summer of 1779, opening a land office for
the entry of lands west of the Alleghany Moun-
tains. Although it prohibited land entries be-
yond the Ohio, it operated as the signal for new
inroads by the squatters and land jobbers. This
brought remonstrances to Congress from persons
styling themselves the Vandalia, the Indiana, and
the Illinois and Wabash companies, setting up
rights under the Walpole grant and the conces-
sions at Fort Stanwix, which the king had re-
jected. The delegates from Virginia demurred
to the consideration of these claims, as pertaining
exclusively to her sovereignty, and beyond the
jurisdiction of Congress.

The other states now plucked up spirit, and

THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY. 165

the right to the western lands was agitated for
three years. Congress insisted upon its jurisdic-
tion, and declared that appropriations of the
vacant lands by the several states during the
war would be attended with mischief. Moreover,
upon the receipt of a report from Colonel Broad-
head, commandant at Pittsburgh, in November,

1779, that he was expelling trespassers from the
west side of the Ohio and destroying their cabins,
Congress ordered it to be transmitted to the gov-
ernor of Virginia, with the request that any fur-
ther in trusion be prevented. This drew a remon-
strance from Virginia. Her position was that the
United States could have no territory otherwise
than in the right of one of the states ; the result
of which, logically, would have been that no ces-
sion could be obtained by treaty as the result of
the war, and fatal, therefore, to her own claim.

The gloom cast upon the Revolutionary cause
by this unsettled state of the Union, and an ad-
verse turn of the war, was broken in February,

1780, by the patriotic example of New York,
which it will be remembered had not voted upon
the Maryland proposition. Her delegates were
now authorized to surrender to the United States,
for the common good, all her right and title, both
of soil and jurisdiction, westward of such a line
or boundary as these delegates should deem ex-
pedient.

This was the title claimed through the Six
Nations, or Iroquois, and asserted as extending

166

OHIO.

to the Mississippi River. Upon the report of a
committee to which this offer, together with the
Maryland declaration and the Virginia remon-
strance, was referred, Congress resolved to abstain
from any discussion of the various titles and
claims now brought into opposition, but to urge
upon the other states to follow the example of
New York and make liberal concessions, instead
of persisting in attempts which endangered the
stability of a general union. Congress at the
same time made emphatic the assurance, ever
since regarded as the basis of the public land sys-
tem, that all territory surrendered by the states
should be disposed of as a common fund, and
formed into new states upon equal footing in the
Federal Union with, the original states ; also that
the expense incurred by any state in subduing
British posts, or acquiring and defending terri-
tory so surrendered, should be reimbursed by the
United States.

Propositions soon followed from Connecticut
and Virginia, but upon such conditions as could
not be entertained. One which Virginia required
was singularly inconsistent with her high preten-
sions. It was that, in consideration of yielding
her western claims, the United States should
guarantee her territory on “ the southeast side of
the Ohio River.” Another was, that all royal
grants, and all purchases from the Indians, in the
ceded territory, inconsistent with the chartered
rights of Virginia, should be held void. The

THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY. 167

absurdity of the claim of Connecticut, under her
charter from Charles II. in 1662, was twice
adjudicated; — in the first instance, by a royal
commission, in 1664, between that colony and
the Duke of York; and again in December, 1782,
by a commission of Congress between Connecti-
cut and Pennsylvania. Her people, in the midst
of the war, were intruding upon the Wyoming
valley under pretense of this charter.

Maryland gracefully yielded to the appeal of
Congress by signing the Articles of Confedera-
tion, March 1, 1781. On the same day, probably
by concert, the delegates of New York executed
a cession by that state of all her rights and ter-
ritory west of the line which now forms her
western boundary. This deed, together with
the cessions offered by Virginia and Connecticut,
and the petitions of the land companies, were
referred by Congress to a committee.

The report of this committee, November 3,
1781, just after the surrender of Cornwallis, was
somewhat startling. They were unanimous that
the cession by New York should be accepted in
behalf of the United States, because thereby the
jurisdiction of the whole western country belong-
ing to the Six Nations and their tributaries, and
appendant to the government of New York,
would be vested in the United States, greatly to
the advantage of the Union. They also reported
that for the same reason, and others which were
fully set forth, Congress could not, consistently

168

OHIO.

with the interests of the United States, or the
right vested in them as the sovereign power,
accept the cession of Virginia. They rejected
the Connecticut cession, and the claims of the
Vandalia (Walpole) and the Illinois and Wabash
companies, but favored the allowance of the Fort
Stanwix grant to Croghan which was presented
by the Indiana company.

The issue thus suddenly precipitated upon Vir-
ginia was unexpected, and as New York in her
cession had reserved the right of having her title
adjudicated by a commission like that which set-
tled the dispute between Connecticut and Penn-
sylvania, there was the prospect for awhile of an
ominous contest. Mr. Madison was the leading
member of the Virginia delegation in Congress,
and anxiously regarded the action of this commit-
tee as indicative of deep machinations, and per-
haps a secret hostility to the Virginia cession in
Congress. He wrote to the governor (Jefferson),
and other Virginians best informed, entreating
them to trace the title, and furnish him with
every argument and document that could vindi-
cate it. The adversaries, he warned them, would
be either the United States or New York, or both.
The correspondence by no means evinces a pro-
found knowledge or faith as to the grounds on
which the Virginia title had been so much
pressed.

But this report never came to a vote. Con-
gress, after the first impulse subsided, adhered in

THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY. 169

good faith to its first resolution not to discuss or
touch the rival claims of the different states, and,
resting upon its own reserved rights, sought to
bury all contentions by covering the Western terri-
tory with the titles of as many of the claimants as
possible, be they what they might. This enabled
Mr. Madison, when the question was brought up
in May, 1782, to obtain a postponement until the
Virginia assembly should meet and consider the
situation. He was materially aided by the influ-
ence of New York; General Hamilton, the lead-
ing delegate of that state, entertaining the opinion
that the title was inherent in the United States,
and therefore neutral as between Virginia and
New York.

In September Congress was anxiously casting
about for means to replenish the treasury. Upon
a suggestion of Dr. Witherspoon that the western
lands would accomplish it, the subject was again
approached in a side way, and another committee
appointed. A separate vote accepting the New
York cession was also obtained in October. The
Virginia cession of January, 1781, was referred to
the committee thus ostensibly appointed for rev-
enue purpose. Mr. Madison was a member of it.
To his patient and temperate counsels and me-
diation, probably, it was due that the thorny
terms and conditions demanded by Virginia were
toned down to a compromise which was proposed
by Congress September 13, 1783, and accepted by
Virginia in December in the terms stipulated by

170

OHIO.

Congress, “ although,” it was added, “ they do not
come fully up to the propositions of this Common-
wealth.” On the 1st of March, 1784, the deed of
cession was executed.

The stipulations were those originally offered
and assured by Congress, that the territory should
be for the common benefit, and formed into states
not less than one hundred nor more than one hun-
dred and fifty miles square, to be admitted into
the Union upon an equality with the original
states ; that Virginia should be reimbursed for
the expense of subduing the British posts, besides
granting a donation of one hundred and fifty thou-
sand acres at the falls of the Ohio to Colonel
George Rogers Clark and his officers and soldiers ;
and furthermore, that, in case there should not be
a sufficient quantity of good lands south of the
Ohio River to provide for the bounties due to the
Continental troops of the Virginia line, the defi-
ciency should be made up by good lands to be laid
off between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers.
The conditions that Virginia should be guaranteed
in her territory southeast of the Ohio, and that
all royal grants or Indian sales to private persons
should be deemed void as inconsistent with the
chartered rights of Virginia, were disallowed, inas-
much as they would involve a discussion of the
right of Virginia to the territory, which Congress
intended studiously to avoid. The inference that
Congress admitted any title of Virginia or the
other colonies, by urging and accepting these ces-

THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY. 171

sions, is therefore a misapprehension. The ques-
tion, by common consent, was to be buried. Had
it come to an issue, Congress or a commission
would probably have decided that the United
States succeeded of right to the crown domain.
Such was the opinion of leading men, and it was
exactly expressed in the instructions to Mr. Jay,
in 1782, not to relinquish the Mississippi. “It is
sufficient that by the treaty of 1763 all the terri-
tory now claimed by the United States was ex-
pressly and irrevocably ceded to the king of Great
Britain, and that the United States are, in conse-
quence of the revolution in their government, en-
titled to the benefit of that cession.” Mr. Madi-
son was chairman of this committee.

Massachusetts surrendered her claims in April,
1785, and Connecticut, in September, 1786, yielded
all claim south of the 41st degree of latitude, and
west of a line one hundred and twenty miles from
the west line of Pennsylvania. The two districts
thus conceded by the United States to the Vir-
ginia soldiers and to Connecticut fell within the
bounds subsequently allotted to Ohio, and are
known as the Virginia Military District and the
Western Reserve. They were settled chiefly by
people of those two states respectively. The dis-
tricts purchased by the Ohio Company and by
Symmes were peopled, the one from Massachusetts,
the other from New Jersey. Thus it happened
that in different quarters of Ohio a marked dis-
tinction in manners and customs, and to some de-

172

OHIO .

gree in the ideas, of the people grew up with the
State, which at this day has not been effaced.

As to all lands north of the Ohio River, the
title of the United States by the treaty of 1783
was therefore made conclusive. There is still an
open question, between the states on its opposite
banks, as to their respective jurisdiction over its
waters. Thus far it has been determined only that
Virginia and Kentucky do not extend further than
low-water mark on the northern shore. Whether
they extend to that line is as yet unsettled.

But Virginia, by her reduction of the British
posts at Kaskaskias and Vincennes, had a special
and meritorious ground for the concessions made
to her by Congress. The fallacy has been in as-
suming that this gave her any title to the country.
In its very nature as a conquest made in a war in
which Great Britain and the United States were
the belligerents, and in which Colonel Clark’s
invasion was justifiable only on the ground that
Virginia and her troops were waging war in behalf
of the United States, there can be no escape from
the consequence that the success inured to the
principal power and not to a mere segment. An-
other fallacy is in assuming that the conquest
extended farther east than the Wabash. The
territory of Ohio was never a dependency of
Vincennes, but always under the command of De-
troit. It remained, as a matter of fact, under
hostile occupancy of the British and Indians long
after the treaty of 1783. No one understood this

THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY . 173

so well as Colonel Clark himself, who, after his
victory on the Wabash, at once made strenuous
efforts to raise an expedition against Detroit.
The effort failed through General Washington’s
inability to spare either troops or supplies for the
campaign. How dangerous was this British occu-
pancy of Detroit became fearfully apparent in the
successive defeats of La Balm, Lochrey, McIntosh,
and Crawford, during the Revolutionary War,
and of Harmar and St. Clair subsequently. These
events very clearly show that Virginia made no
conquest east of the Wabash.

There is a theory that in the treaty of 1788 the
United States acquired the boundary of the Mis-
sissippi and the upper lakes by virtue of Clarke’s
conquest and the rule of uti possidetis , as it is
called in international law ; that is to say, each
party retaining what it has in possession. But
this does not appear by any account of the ne-
gotiations. It does appear, on the contrary, from
the instructions of Congress to their commis-
sioners in Europe, that as early as December,
1776, the free navigation of the Mississippi River
was claimed ; and that one among the points
adopted in March, 1779, as essential to the safety
and independence of the United States, was that
in any treaty of peace, the same boundary must
be insisted upon as that ceded to Great Britain by
France. The difficulty as to the western lands
was more with Spain and France than with Eng-
land. The fisheries interested England more than
the West.

174

OHIO .

Obviously, the boundary established was not
upon the principle of uti possidetis. The applica-
tion of that rule would have left Ohio, Michigan,
the larger part of Indiana and Illinois, and all of
Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota, under British
dominion.

Without waiting for the cessions by Massachu-
setts and Connecticut, Congress passed an ordi-
nance, May 20, 1785, for surveying and disposing
of the public lands west of the Ohio River. The
first geographer, or surveyor-general, was Thomas
Hutchins, who as captain in the 60th British
Infantry had served many years in the West as
an officer of engineers, in which capacity he had
shown high scientific qualifications. The system
of rectangular surveys by sections, townships, and
ranges was adopted by that ordinance, and by its
requirement the initial point was established by
Hutchins and Rittenhouse, the official geographer
of Pennsylvania, at the point where the north
bank of the Ohio River is intersected by the west
line of Pennsylvania. This line is a meridian at
the west extremity of the celebrated line of Mason
and Dixon. On a base line extending due west
from this point, the “ Seven Ranges ” were laid
off which were the beginning of the land system
of Ohio.

To open the way for surveys and sales of the
western lands and induce emigration, it was es-
sential to obtain the Indian title. A board of
commissioners had been established for this pur-

THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY. 175

pose in 1784. Instead of seeking peace and
friendship through the great Council of the
Northwestern Confederacy, which had now trans-
ferred its annual meetings from the Scioto to the
Rapids of the Maumee (near Toledo), these offi-
cials adopted a policy of dealing with the tribes
separately. Year after year they treated with
sundry gatherings of unauthorized and irrespon-
sible savages, at what are known as the treaties
of Fort Stanwix in October, 1784, Fort McIntosh
(mouth of Big Beaver) in January, 1785, Fort
Finney (near the mouth of the Big Miami) in
January, 1786, and Fort Harmar (mouth of Mus-
kingum) in January, 1789. By, these proceed-
ings it was given out and popularly supposed that
the Indian tribes on the Ohio had acknowledged
the sovereignty of the United States, and surren-
dered all the territory south and east of a line
which passed up the Cuyahoga River and across
the portage to the Tuscarawas, then descending
this stream to Fort Laurens (near the line be-
tween the counties of Stark and Tuscarawas),
thence running west to the portage between the
heads of the Big Miami and the Auglaize rivers, and
down the Auglaize and Maumee rivers to Lake
Erie. Congress was under the delusion that it
had acquired the Indian title and full dominion of
all the lands between this line and the Ohio River.

The mischief of these travesties was soon dis-
covered in new raids and murders perpetrated
upon the settlers of the government lands by the

176

OHIO .

very tribes ignorantly reported and supposed to
have ceded the territory. The error was so
clearly pointed out, in a memorable speech or re-
monstrance which was sent to Congress by the
Council of the Confederates in December, 1786,
that a passage from it is worth quoting. After
deploring their disappointment that they had not
been included in the peace made with Great
Britain, they advised Congress that —

“ In their opinion the first step should be that all
treaties on their part, carried on with the United States,
should be with the general voice of the whole confed-
eracy, and in the most open manner, without any re-
straint on either side ; and as land matters are often the
subject of our councils with you, and a matter of the
greatest importance and of general concern to us, in
this case we hold it indispensably necessary that any
cession of our lands should be made in the most public
manner, and by the united voice of the confederacy ;
holding all partial treaties as void and of no effect.

“ We think the mischief and confusion which has
followed is owing to you, having managed everything
respecting us in your own way. You kindled your
council fires where you thought proper, without con-
sulting us, at which you held separate treaties, and have
entirely neglected our plan of having a general confer-
ence with the different nations of the confederacy.
Had this happened, we have reason to believe every-
thing would have been settled between us in a most
friendly manner. We wish, therefore, you would take
it into serious consideration and let us speak to you in
the manner we proposed. Let us have a treaty with

THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY. 177

you early in the spring. We say let us meet half way,
and let us pursue such steps as become upright and
honest men. We beg that you will prevent your sur-
veyors and other people from coming on our side of the
Ohio River.

“It shall not be our fault if the plan we have sug-
gested should not be carried into execution. In that
case the event will be very precarious, and if fresh rup-
tures arise we shall most assuredly, with our united
force, be obliged to defend the rights and privileges
which have been transmitted to us by our ancestors.

“ These are our thoughts and firm resolve, and we
earnestly desire that you will transmit to us, as soon as
possible, your answer, be it what it may.”

To this wise counsel Congress made an evasive
answer. Afterwards it was resolved that a gen-
eral treaty convention be held, and St. Clair, as
governor of the territory, was instructed to take
measures for holding it. But this was counter-
manded the next week, and the consequences
are well known. What influence brought about
this reversal of the order for a general treaty
may be surmised from the letter of St. Clair to
the President, in May, 1789, transmitting his
treaty at Fort Harmar : —

44 The reason,” he said, 44 why the treaty was
made separately was a jealousy between them,
which I was not willing to lessen by appearing to
consider them as one people. I am persuaded
their general confederacy is entirely broken.”

How grossly he erred in judgment is told in

178 onio.

the disasters which followed in the campaigns of
General Harmar and himself. The confederates
were never so powerful as in the summer of
1793, when they refused to treat with General
Washington’s commissioners as to any boundary
but the Ohio, and sent them home.

Upon this dangerous footing Congress pro-
ceeded to establish a “ temporary government ”
of the Western territories. A declaratory reso-
lution had been introduced in October, 1783, but
the first definite action was by the adoption of
Mr. Jefferson’s plan, April 23, 1784. His pro-
ject was to divide all the western country north
and south of the Ohio into new states by lines
of latitude two degrees apart, intersected by two
meridians of longitude to be drawn through the
mouth of the Kanawha and the falls of the Ohio.
These divisions were to compose seventeen states,
ten of which north of the Ohio were to have
borne the high-sounding names of Sylvania, Mich-
igania, Chersonesus, Assenisipia, Metropotamia,
Illinoia, Saratoga, Washington, Polypotamia, and
Pelisipia. North Ohio would have fallen into
Metropotamia. The remainder of the State
would have been divided between Washington
and Pelisipia ; Pelisipy being another name dis-
covered for the Ohio River. But this portion of
the bill was dropped by the committee, after it
had been recommitted to them by Congress.

Another point introduced in the bill, but
stricken out, notwithstanding the support of six

THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY . 179

states, by the rule which required a majority of
seven, was Mr. Jefferson’s famous anti-slavery
proposition : —

“ That after the year 1800 of the Christian era there
shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in
any of the said States, otherwise than in punishment of
crime whereof the party shall have been convicted to
have been personally guilty.”

It is safe to say that, if the prohibition of slav-
ery in the Northwest Territory had been left to
depend upon this provision, all the States would
have been slave states.

A supplement to the Ordinance of 1784 was
offered by Mr. King of Massachusetts, in March,
1785, in this form : —

“ That there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude in any of the States described in the resolve
of Congress of April 23, 1784, otherwise than in pun-
ishment of crime whereof the party shall have been
personally guilty, and that this regulation shall be an
article of compact, and remain a fundamental princi-
ple of the Constitutions between the thirteen original
States aud each of the States described in said resolve
of April 23, 1784.”

To show, at a single view, the contrast between
these and the proposition finally adopted, the con-
cluding article in the Ordinance of 1787 is here
given : —

“ There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary ser-
vitude in the said territory otherwise than in punish-

180

OHIO .

ment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted. Provided, always, that any person escaping
into the same from whom labor or service is lawfully
claimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive
may be lawfully reclaimed and conveyed to the person
claiming his or her labor or service as aforesaid.”

Mr. Jefferson’s project left the door wide open.
Nothing but the immediate and absolute prohibi-
tion put upon the further introduction of slavery
at the Northwest (for the French had already
brought it there) saved it from the persistent im-
portunities to repeal or suspend this article in the
Ordinance of 1787. The first proposition made
at the first session of the territorial legislature
(1798) was that the assembly give its consent to
the repeal. But it was unanimously resolved to
stand by the Ordinance. It is to the honor of that
eccentric son of Virginia, John Randolph, that
the adverse report made by him in Congress, upon
one of the last of these assaults, defended the pro-
hibition most ably ; pointing to Ohio, then just
admitted into the Union, as a striking proof of
its wisdom.

The ordinance for the “ government of the
territory northwest of the Ohio,” known as the
Ordinance of 1787, was passed on the 13th of
July, but there are indications in the proceedings
of Congress that it had been in contemplation
some time before September 29, 1786, when it
first appears in the journal.

So much has been written and spoken of this

THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY. 181

great statute, that any comment upon it incurs
the risk of being very trite. It has become
merely historical ; most of its provisions having
been superseded, as law, by the constitutions of
the States formed under it, and admitted into the
Union upon an equal footing with the original
States. How little it commands the attention of
our later statesmen appears in the admission
of Minnesota, a sixth state within its confines,
whereas the Ordinance was absolute that there
should “ not be more than five.”

Famous for its great offspring of free states, it
offers another view in which it may be regarded
by Americans forever with pride. It showed how
free colonies might be established and maintained
by a parent state. It was the first demonstration
to the disbelieving world, a hundred years ago,
of the mode in which the young republic, just
sprung from hard, colonial pupilage, and spurn-
ing king and parliament, would deal with its
own dependencies. What airs, it was fancied,
would not Congress assume towards its colonies !
Would it not have to assert, like the imperial
parliament, that they, planted by its hands, must
be subjects of their supremacy as lawgiver ?
Would these Americans, or could they suffer their
territories to lay their own taxes and form their
own laws, and have representation in Congress
besides ? It was a crucial test, but it was consis-
tently and completely met. The Ordinance was
a masterpiece of statesmanship in reconciling

182

OHIO.

and vindicating every principle for which the
Thirteen Colonies appealed to arms, and it re-
mains to-day the model in nearly all respects
upon which the territorial governments of the
United States are constructed.

One radical difference between the territories
and the parent stock entitled the experiment to
much allowance. England had not planted the
American colonies, and had no proprietorship
or right in the land which they took. They
were the work of men who had individually or
by companies been left by the English govern-
ment to find territory and make a country for
themselves. It was the tyranny which essayed
to wrest their autonomy from them, after they
had worked it out unaided, that stirred up the
American Revolution. The Ordinance of 1787,
on the contrary, like all the territorial govern-
ments which have been modelled upon it, was
established in a domain of the parent State.

The framing of the Ordinance, though supposed
of late to have been a work of two or three days,
bears internal evidence of long and mature delib-
eration in every part. There are but six sections,
divided about equally between a code of tempo-
rary administration, a method for converting the
territory into new states, and a compact between
these and the original states, forever to remain
unalterable “ unless by common consent.” Under
these latter words the compact is deemed to have
been dissolved by the equality conferred upon the
new states when admitted.

THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY . 183

The administration of this temporary govern-
ment over a few French villages, and 400,000
square miles of Indian territory, extending from
Pennsylvania to the Mississippi, and from the
Ohio to the great chain of lakes, terminating at
the far away Lake of the Woods, was committed
to a governor and three judges with a secretary.
A few organic rules providing for land tenures,
taxation, inheritances, and the disposal of property
by deeds, wills, etc., were prescribed, but all other
legislation was left to the governor and judges,
who were empowered jointly to “ adopt and pub-
lish such laws of the original States, criminal or
civil, as they or the majority of them should deem
suitable and necessary,” subject, however, to the
disapproval of Congress. As soon as the governor
should ascertain that there were “ five thousand
free male inhabitants of full age in the district,”
they were to elect a house of representatives,
consisting of one for each five hundred inhabi-
tants. This body, and a legislative council of five
members, to be appointed by Congress out of ten
residents of the district nominated by the House,
composed, together with the governor, the general
assembly of the territory, with authority to make
all laws not repugnant to the articles of the Ordi-
nance. But a superadded clause, the source of
unseen harm still inhering in the institutions of
Ohio, declared that no bill or legislative act what-
ever was to' be of any force without the governor’s
assent. It was not merely the qualified dissent,

184

OHIO.

now known as the veto, but it enabled the gov-
ernor to assert himself as a third branch of the
assembly. He was also empowered, until the es-
tablishment of the general assembly, to appoint
magistrates and all county and township officers.
Another of his powers, which became a source of
contention, was to “ lay out counties and town-
ships, subject to such alterations as the legislature
thereafter might make.”

The article of the Ordinance in respect to new
states stipulated that there should be not less
than three nor more than five. The eastern state
was to be bounded on the west by a line drawn
due north from the mouth of the Big Miami
River to the north boundary of the United States,
and would have intersected the Strait of Macki-
nac. But this was subject to alteration if more
than three states should be established, so that
Congress might form the additional state or states
north of an east and west line drawn through the
south bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. It will
at once be seen that this was not prescribed as
the south line of the new states, but as a limit.
Nevertheless, upon this minute point an almost
internecine contest was raised, fifty years after-
ward, between Ohio and a territorial governor of
Michigan, known as the “ Wolverine War.”

Two articles of the Ordinance were in the na-
ture of a bill of rights, without which our fore-
fathers regarded no country as safe, and its omis-
sion in the Constitution of the United States was

THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY. 185

made a serious objection. One of the points was
a prohibition of laws in any manner affecting pri-
vate contracts made in good faith ; a landmark
which a month later was borrowed and incorpo-
rated into the federal Constitution. It has proved
to be of incalculable security against wild legis-
lation.

In the two concluding articles it was ordained,
“ There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude in said territory, otherwise than in pun-
ishment of crime ; ” and that 44 religion, morality,
and knowledge, being essential to good govern-
ment and the happiness of mankind, shall forever
be encouraged.” These were placed by the Ordi-
nance as among “the fundamental principles of
civil and religious liberty which form the basis
whereon these republics, their laws and constitu-
tions, are erected.”

The men who settled Ohio believed this, and
proved it by the care with which the principles
summed up and consecrated in the Ordinance
were preserved and handed down in the Consti-
tutions both of 1802 and 1851 ; especially in the
articles prohibiting slavery and favoring the en-
couragement of religion, morality, and knowledge
as the means of government.

The former is that upon which the people of
44 these republics ” have been the most intent
during the century since the Ordinance and the
Constitution were framed, and which by a convul-
sive effort has been laid at rest.

186

OHIO.

The other principle has not been sustained ;
indeed, it may be said to have lost much of its
force, under powerful foreign influences which
have asserted themselves in American politics and
laws. But that this declaration was, at the time,
the fixed and general sentiment of the American
people and statesmen, is undeniable. General
Washington and Dr. Franklin have left no uncer-
tainty as to this, and there were no better expo-
nents. The colonies, in fact, were founded upon
it and for its sake. It became ingrained in the
very fibre of those indigenous governments and
institutions which were a century and a half si-
lently growing up to form the American republic.
It was the fervent intermingling of the spirit of
liberty with this reverence for religion and moral-
ity, as being the “ basis of good government and
the happiness of mankind,” that first struck the
attention of European patriots, and of which De
Tocqueville was so keenly observant in his view
of American democracy.

Whether it is not time that American states-
men were heeding it, let wise men consider. It is
not safe to forsake the customs and principles by
which a people have risen to greatness. Nor did
a people ever fail of enduring prosperity and
happiness by the ways pointed out in the Ordi-
nance of 1787. Democracy, or democratic insti-
tutions, cannot rise above their fountain. In their
nature they cannot be enduring without a public
opinion powerfully rooted and reinforced in reli-

THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY . 187

gion and morality. This was American democ-
racy prior to Mr. Jefferson and the French Revo-
lution.

The authorship of this Ordinance has lately
been made a subject of curious speculation. It is
certain that some eminent men were differing upon
it a year before its passage. But that Nathan Dane
had the chief hand in forming it as it ultimately
appeared, was never doubted during his life or
that of his contemporaries. Mr. W ebster as-
serted it with emphasis in both of his speeches in
the great debate in January, 1830, concerning the
public lands. Chief Justice Chase reiterated it
in 1833 in the historical sketch prefixed to his
compilation of the statutes of Ohio. Recent dis-
coveries, however, are supposed to displace him,
and Dr. Cutler is brought forward as having given
the paper its stamp and character. The subject
seems to have fallen under that morbid infirmity
in literature which delights in denying Homer
and Shakespeare their works, and sometimes has
not spared even Holy Writ from its rage.

In the present instance there has been a re-
markable industry, not only in turning certain ex-
pressions in Dr. Cutler’s diary to a sense which he
cannot have intended, but in avoiding the source
where information should naturally have been
sought. Mr. Dane’s “ Abridgment of American
Law ” contains a precise statement as to the com-
position of the Ordinance; pointing out his own
part, and giving credit to the authors of the parts

188

OHIO .

which he did not contribute.1 He is confirmed in
his statements by the fact, which appears in the
journals of Congress, that he was a member of
the committee which reported the Ordinance,
through all its steps, from first to last.

1 See Appendix, No. 2.

♦

CHAPTER YIII.

THE EARLY SETTLERS.

The first settlers of Ohio, whoever they were,
would furnish a theme for a poet ; not that they
reflect such beautiful lights and shadows as Long-
fellow has pictured in those of the Acadian coast
and the prairies of fair Opelousas, but vanishing
and lost in the same dim obscurity. They were ;
that is all. No historical trace of them remains.
The French who came floating up the shores of
Lake Erie must have found homes, early in the
eighteenth century, among their old allies, the
Hurons (Wyandots), at Sandusky, or Junundat,
as they called the bay, and on the wide-spread-
ing, flowery plains through which the river flowed
to it. Yet the earliest account of Ohio, an anony-
mous memoir or report in 1718 concerning the
Indians of Canada as far as the Mississippi,
though it gives a graphic touch of geography,
makes no mention of French inhabitants. Here
is an extract : —

“ A hundred leagues from Niagara, on the south side
(Lake Erie), is a river called Sandosquet, which the In-
dians of Detroit and Lake Huron take when going to
war with the Flatheads and other nations toward Caro-

190

OHIO.

lina, such as the Cheraquis, the Indians residing on the
river Casquinampo (the Tennessee), and the Chaoua-
nons (Shawanees). They ascend this river Sandosquet
two or three days, after which they make a small
portage of about a quarter of a league. Some make
canoes of elm bark, and float down a small river
(Scioto) that empties into the Ohio, which means
Beautiful River ; and it is indeed beautiful. Whoever
would wish to reach the Mississippi easily, would need
only to take this beautiful river or the Sandosquet ; he
could travel without any danger of fasting, for all who
have been there have repeatedly assured me that there
is so vast a quantity of buffalo and of all other animals
in the woods along that beautiful river, they were often
obliged to discharge their guns to clear a passage for
themselves. They say that two thousand men could
very easily live there. To reach Detroit from this
river Sandosquet, we cross Lake Erie from island to
island, and get to a place called Point Pelee, where
every sort of fish are in great abundance, especially
sturgeon, very large, and three, four, and five feet in
length. There is on one of these islands so great a
number of cats (raccoons) that the Indians killed as
many as nine hundred in a very short time. The ob-
ject of the Indians in making this traverse is to shorten
their road considerably, and were they not to do so
they must go as far as the river which flows from the
Miamis,1 and which is at the head of the lake.”

There are possibilities also of white settlements
at Demoiselle’s fort and the Scioto Plains. A
circumstance hinting at this is mentioned both
by Captain Gist and the Rev. David Jones.

1 9 N. Y. Historical Docs ., 885-892.

THE EARLY SETTLERS.

191

Many of the resident traders married white
women who had been taken captive when chil-
dren by the Indians, and had grown up among
them. It seems doubtful whether General Bou-
quet recovered a fourth part of the whites who
were then in Ohio. How little we know of the
actual state of affairs is revealed in the casual
allusion by Mr, Jones to the Shawanees farmer
on the Licking, with his horses, cattle, and negro
slaves.

But coming to matters of fact, there were
primitive settlements on the north side of the
Ohio, as far down as the Muskingum, years be-
fore the government surveys and sales of lands,
and upon no title but what was known as the
“ tomahawk right.” Deadening a patch of woods
near the head of a spring, cutting the initials of
the claimant’s name into the corner trees, and
throwing up any sort of a hut, constituted an
“ improvement.” Division lines were chiefly on
the water-courses, or the top of the ridges. The
earliest farms, therefore, resembled an amphi-
theatre. The cabin was always on the lower
ground, which pleased the squatter because of its
convenience ; “ everything came to the house

dowm hill.” When this hilly part of Ohio in
the “ Seven Ranges ” was laid off by the survey-
ors’ arbitrary square lines, without regard to hill
or dale, there was not only a subversion of the
tomahawk titles, but a total change in the aspect
of the farms. The houses then, as frequently,

192

OHIO.

occupied the top of the hill. But many old set-
tlers clung to the belief that there was more ague
on the hills than in the bottoms.

This contraband population, chiefly from
western Pennsylvania and Virginia, introduced
by the traders and land speculators, and foment-
ers of all the wrongs of the Indians, must have
commenced before the Revolutionary War. The
Rev. Mr. Jones states that in descending the Ohio
River with George Rogers Clarke and others in
1772, they saw but one habitation between Pitts-
burgh and Captina. This was the year that the
Moravians built Shoenbrun and Gnadenhiitten.
But Colonel Robert Patterson found several im-
provements below the Hockhocking in 1776 ; and
in October, 1778, Colonel Broadhead reported to
General Washington that he had sent troops
from Pittsburgh to drive off a land company who
were trespassing upon the Indians somewhere
opposite to Wheeling. The officer detached
upon this duty reported that he had found settle-
ments from Fort McIntosh down to the Muskin-
gum, and extending thirty miles up the streams
on the west side of the Ohio. He had evidently
not executed his orders, as these people were still
the chief subjects of complaint of the Indians at
the treaty of Fort McIntosh in 1785. Nor was
their enterprise exclusively confined to stealing
land. Some of them appropriated the salt springs
(Mahoning County) which had long been used
by the Indians ; and before their expulsion

THE EARLY SETTLERS.

193

by the military, had erected cabins, sunk vats,
and made some progress in manufacturing salt,
then worth six dollars per bushel. Judge Par-
sons subsequently purchased this township from
the Connecticut Associates, and lost his life in
endeavoring to develop the salt business.

Upon the receipt of Colonel Broadhead’s re-
port, Colonel Harmar, the military commandant
on the Ohio, at once dispatched Ensign Arm-
strong with a force to expel the squatters. He
reported that there were at least a dozen settle-
ments on the west side of the Ohio, and gave the
names of several of considerable population. He
was informed of one at the falls of the Hock-
hocking, where there were three hundred families,
but this was evidently an exaggeration. The
chief men of these upper settlements were Ross
and Norris ; the former established at Mingo
Bottom, and the latter farther down at Mercer-
town. At this place two justices of the peace
had been elected and were exercising jurisdiction.
A paper signed by more than sixty of the set-
tlers was presented to Armstrong, begging indul-
gence until the winter was over. At Norristown,
in the same vicinity, an armed assemblage pro-
posed to resist, but they were intimidated by his
show of hostility, and dispersed under a compro-
mise by which all were given until the 19th of
April to remove to the other side of the Ohio.
Ross and a few others who were refractory were
captured and imprisoned.

194

OHIO.

This attempt, however, was as inefficacious
as the first. General Butler, in descending the
Ohio in October to meet the Indians at Fort
Finney, found Ross still in possession and purpos-
ing to go to Congress, as he announced, to vindi-
cate himself and his neighbors from aspersion.
At the mouth of the Kanawha General Butler
found a town laid out upon Cornstalk’s battle-
field, and town lots fronting the river already
sold at ten pounds each. On the back streets
they were selling at five pounds each.

The history of these squatters is hardly worth
pursuing. The blood of the Moravians is the
u damned spot ” upon their memory. The man-
tle of charity thrown over them by the friendly
Dr. Doddridge was ill-deserved, as one discovers
upon reading the simple and truthful story of the
Ohio Indians as told in “ Colonel Smith’s Cap-
tivity with the Indians,” probably the truest and
most interesting picture of the life, manners, and
customs of the Ohio tribes which we have.

But men of a better order superseded these.
The Revolutionary War had hardly closed before
thousands of the disbanded officers and soldiers
were looking anxiously to the Western lands for
new homes, or for means of repairing their shat-
tered fortunes. In June, 1783, a strong memo-
rial was sent to Congress asking a grant of the
lands between the Ohio and Lake Erie. Those
who lived in the South were fortunate in having
immediate access to the lands of Kentucky, Tenn-

THE EARLY SETTLERS.

195

essee, and the back parts of Georgia. The strife
in Congress over the lands of the Northwest de-
layed the surveys and the bounties so long that
the soldiers of the North almost lost hope.

In 1785 General Rufus Putnam was appointed
by Congress one of the surveyors of the Seven
Ranges, but as he was engaged at the time in sim-
ilar work for Massachusetts in the District of
Maine, he obtained the appointment of General
Benjamin Tupper temporarily in his place.
Tupper entered immediately into the work, and
on returning to Massachusetts at the close of the
season, met General Putnam and gave him a full
report of the country. The result was a meeting
of officers and soldiers, chiefly of the Massachu-
setts, Rhode Island and Connecticut lines, at Bos-
ton, March 1, 1786, when they formed a new
Ohio Company for the purchase and settlement
of Western lands, in shares of one thousand dol-
lars. General Putnam, General Samuel H. Par-
sons, and the Rev. Manasseh Cutler were made
the directors, and selected for their purchase the
lands on the Ohio River situated on both sides of
the Muskingum, and immediately west of the
Seven Ranges.

The treasury board in those days were the
commissioners of public lands, but with no pow-
ers to enter into absolute sales unless such were
approved by Congress. Weeks and months were
lost in waiting for a quorum of that body to as-
semble. This was effected on the lltli of July,

196

OHIO .

and Dr. Cutler, deputed by his colleagues, was in
attendance, but was constantly baffled in pursu-
ing his objects. The difficulty was not so much
in the passage of the ordinance by the govern-
ment, for that went through unanimously on the
13th, as in closing the arrangements for purchas-
ing the land. This was the first boon which Con-
gress had to dispense, and it was disposed to make
much of it. There were wheels within the wheel
also, in respect to the offices to be conferred in
the territory. The governorship had to be ad-
justed. General Parsons was desired for the
office by the Ohio Company. There was a coun-
ter influence for General St. Clair, then president
of Congress, though apparently he took no part
in it. Another obstacle arose from rival combi-
nations of speculators in Western lands; one of
these consisting, as stated by Dr. Cutler, of a
“ number of the principal characters in the city
of New York,” where Congress was then sitting.
These had the advantage of being represented by
Colonel William Duer, then secretary of the
treasury board.

The combination of obstacles was overcome by
a secret arrangement which provided that St.
Clair should be appointed governor, and the do-
main of the Ohio Company enlarged by an addi-
tion of land on the western side for the benefit
of the New York Associates. The effect, as Dr.
Cutler very candidly noted in his diary, was that
“ matters went on much better.” But the conse-

THE EARLY SETTLERS.

197

quences ultimately were unfortunate. St. Clair
proved not to be the man for the place, and the
hidden interest of the New-Yorkers, who never
paid for their part of the purchase, led to the frauds
practiced by the “ Scioto Company ” at Paris.

But Congress was still dilatory about the con-
tract, though, as Dr. Cutler expressively says,
u every machine in the city that it was possible to
work was set in motion.” The members were
disposed to insert conditions which were not satis-
factory to the Ohio Company. But the doctor
carried his point by formally intimating that he
should retire, and seek better terms with some of
the States, which were offering their lands at half
the price Congress was to receive. The grant to
the Ohio Company, upon the terms proposed, was
voted by Congress, and the contract formally
signed October 27, 1787, by the treasury board,
and by Dr. Cutler and Winthrop Sargent as
agents of the Ohio Company.

Two companies, including surveyors, boat-build-
ers, carpenters, smiths, farmers and laborers, forty-
eight persons in all, with their outfit, were sent
forward in the following months of December and
January, under General Putnam as leader and
superintendent. They united in February on the
Youghiogheny River and constructed boats. One
was named the Mayflower, manifestly under the
impression that they were going to wilds where
no whites had yet existed. Embarking with their
stores, they descended the Ohio, and on the 7th

198

OHIO .

of April, 1788, landed at the Muskingum. On
the upper point, opposite Fort Harmar, they
founded their town, which at Boston had first
been named Adelphia. At the first meeting of
the directors, held on the ground July 2d, the
name of Marietta was adopted, in honor of the
French Queen Marie Antoinette, and compounded
of the first and last syllables.

Under General Putnam’s vigorous management
surveying, felling, and grubbing soon reduced the
forest and ground to order. The farmers and
builders were then set at work. A hundred and
thirty acres of land were put under cultivation.
The first building, a large one of hewn logs, two
stories in height, with block-houses at the angles,
was erected on the Campus Martius. This sur-
mounted an ancient fortification of the Mound-
builders, of which the parapets, twenty feet in
height, still remained, crowned with trees of an-
cient growth. Into this stronghold the women
and children were immediately placed, as Indians
were at hand. Captain Pipe happened at the
time to be encamped near the fort with some
dusky companions. In justice, it must be said
that he had now ceased from mischief, and in his
later days enjoyed the reputation of a virtuous
and conservative old gentleman.

Thus much accomplished, Putnam proceeded to
lay off the in-lots and out-lots of the town, for
distribution. Numerous accessions of emigrants
arrived, among whom in May came Colonel John

THE EARLY SETTLERS.

199

May, tlie earliest journalist of the colony, and in
June Judges Parsons and Varnum, all of them
members, and the two latter directors, of the com-
pany. The 4th of July was celebrated by the
first pageant in the Northwest in its honor.
There was a procession of the citizens and sol-
diery, an eloquent oration by Judge Varnum, and
a barbecue, the most ample that the river and the
forest could supply. This was soon followed by
the arrival of Governor St. Clair, and on the 17th
of July the government of the Northwest Terri-
tory was formally installed. Washington County,
with its courts and officers, was established and
set in motion, and at the end of the year the
little capital could show a population of a hundred
and thirty-two men, besides women and children.
To these were added in the following year one
hundred and fifty-two men, fifty-seven of them
with families. Of what sort these people were,
deserves to be learned from an eye-witness wholly
disinterested. Major Denny, of the army, then
posted at Fort Harmar, sets down these impres-
sions in his diary : —

“ These men from New England, many of whom are
of the first respectability, old revolutionary officers,
erected and are now living in huts immediately opposite
to us. A considerable number of industrious farmers
purchased shares in the company, and more or less arrive
every week. . . . These people appear the most happy
folks in the world, greatly satisfied with their new pur-
chase. They certainly are the best informed, most

200

OHIO.

courteous and civil strangers of any I have yet met with.
The order and regularity observed by all, their sober
deportment, and perfect submission to the constituted au-
thorities, must tend much to promote their settlements.”

Why these intelligent people should have
pitched upon the hill country of the Muskingum
and Hockhocking was long a marvel, though the
later discoveries of the vast beds of iron, coal, and
salt hidden in its depths has justified them as
wiser than they knew. There was a tradition
that Colonel Zane, of Wheeling, was consulted by
them as a man thoroughly versed in the country,
and that he advised them to go to the Miami
valley. But as Captain Hutchins was supposed
to know better, and General Parsons had been
at Fort Finney the year before and should have
known,, the shrewd Yankees suspected, it is said,
that, as the Miamis were the great war-path of
the Indians, Zane had a sinister design of placing
them between himself and harm. Parsons, as one
of the directors, had taken the responsibility in
1787 of opening negotiations with a committee of
Congress for a purchase on the Scioto. But the
Muskingum was so much preferred that the di-
rectors took the business out of his hands.

The survey and distribution of the Ohio Com-
pany’s lands brought so many emigrants to the
Muskingum in 1790, that Marietta was increased
to eighty houses. Settlements were extended to
Belpre (Belle Prairie) and Newbury, twelve or
fifteen miles down the Ohio, and to Big Bottom,

TEE EARLY SETTLERS .

201

thirty miles or more up the Muskingum. In
January, 1791, General Putnam estimated that
there were in these settlements two hundred and
eighty men capable of bearing arms. The danger
from the Indians was fearfully proved by the
destruction of the upper settlement at Big Bottom,
by Delawares and Wyandots, in January, 1791.
Strong block-houses were erected at each of these
points. At Belpre there were three, the largest
of them known as the “ Farmers’ Castle.” This
lovely border of the Ohio became famous for its
orchards of the apple and peach, and just opposite
was the island which in a few years was to be-
come the famed home of the Blennerhassets.

Whatever their privations and dangers, the
adventurers happily were spared any apprehen-
sion of famine. Their fields and gardens were
not only fruitful beyond their utmost expectation,
but the abundance of fish, flesh, and fowl was
simply prodigious. Buffalo, deer, and bear seemed
to wait upon them. Geese, ducks, and pigeons
swarmed. The fish fairly infested the rivers, and
were of such superlative size that if the accounts
of them were not sustained by concurrent state-
ments of General Harmar, Major Denny, Dr.
Hildreth, and other like authority, they might be
set aside as fish stories. Colonel May asserts that
a pike weighing one hundred pounds was served
up at the Fourth of July barbecue, and catfish of
sixty and eighty pounds were often caught. An-
other pleasing reminiscence of the colonel’s is that
this barbecue lasted until midnight.

202

OHIO.

Meanwhile the Miamis, though slighted by the
Ohio Company, had fallen into other hands, and
soon took the first honors away from the Muskin-
gum. The settlers to this section came, as it were
by chance, from New Jersey. It will be remem-
bered that, in the fierce conflict between the In-
dians and Kentuckians, this valley, and particu-
larly the lower part along the Ohio, converging
on the Licking, had become exceedingly danger-
ous, and indeed was a sealed book little known to
the whites. The constant raids back and forth
had given it the terrible appellation of the “ Mi-
ami Slaughter House.” Still one wonders that
whole fleets of pioneers should have floated past
a spot presenting to their eye such attractions of
fertility and beauty as that which lay between
the two Miamis. General William Lytle relates
that in April, 1780, a fleet of sixty-three boats,
filled with emigrants and their families, more
than a thousand fighting-men among them, were
approaching the point where Cincinnati stands,
when their pilot boats gave signals that a num-
ber of Indians were encamped on the north bank,
opposite the Licking, and preparing to attack.
The fleet landed half a mile above, and five hun-
dred men went to encounter them. The Indians
quickly discovered that they were outnumbered,
and fled up Mill Creek too rapidly for their pur-
suers, though followed for four or five miles.
Only two months later Captain Bird, in com-
mand of six hundred Indians and Canadians,

TEE EARLY SETTLERS.

203

with artillery, came down the Big Miami and as-
cended the Licking. Many collisions occurred in
this vicinity, but not between forces of such mag-
nitude. One of the most fatal was in March,
1788, when three boats were captured near the
Big Miami, containing Mr. Samuel Purviance, a
prominent citizen of Baltimore, with four or five
gentlemen from Maryland, Mons. Ragant and two
other French gentlemen, mineralogists and bota-
nists on an exploring expedition, with eight or ten
other persons ; all except two were killed or cap-
tured. The fate of Mr. Purviance was never as-
certained, though General Harmar made a long
but fruitless search.

But in the summer of 1786, whilst Dr. Cutler
was wrestling with Congress for the Muskingum
purchase, if not earlier, Benjamin Stites, a trader
from New Jersey, happened to be at Washington,
a few miles back of Limestone (Maysville), and
as a volunteer joined a party of Kentuckians in
pursuit of some Indians who had stolen their
horses. The thieves were traced down to the
Little Miami, where on rafts they had crossed
the Ohio, swimming the horses. Following their
example, the pursuit was continued so far that the
Kentuckians gave it up, but, at the instance of
Stites, crossed over to the Big Miami, and thus
he gained a view of the rich valleys formed by
these rivers.

Possessed of this knowledge, he returned with-
out delay to New Jersey, and confided his discov-

204

OHIO.

ery to Mr. John Cleves Symmes and other men
of influence. An association of twenty-four pro-
prietors, much in the form of the Ohio Company,
was formed, among whom were General Jonathan
Dayton, Elias Boudinot, and Dr. Witherspoon, as
well as Symmes and Stites. To make sure of
the scheme before entering into it, Symmes made
a journey to the Ohio, descending to the falls,
with a special eye to the shore between the Mi-
amis. The associates, being convinced by his
report that Stites had not overdrawn the picture,
resolved to proceed. A petition was presented
by Symmes to Congress, August 29, 1787, on be-
half of himself and associates, that the Treasury
Board be authorized to make them a grant, on
the same terms as had been conceded to the Ohio
Company, for all the lands on the Ohio between
the two Miamis, bounded on the north by an ex-
tension of the north line of the purchase of the
Ohio Company, except that instead of appropriat-
ing two townships as in that grant for a univer-
sity, one only should be set apart in the Miami
purchase for the use of an academy.

It does not appear, so imperfectly were the
journals of Congress kept, that this petition was
granted, nor is it even on record that it was pre-
sented. Circumstances, however, show that it was
referred to the Treasury Board about October 23,
for action at their discretion, and that there were
negotiations between them and Symmes on the
subject. But without awaiting their decision,

THE EARLY SETTLERS .

205

and in a credulous reliance that the grant would
be just what he had asked, Sy mines proceeded as
though the bargain were closed, and on the 9th of
November gave Stites a covenant for ten thou-
sand acres of the best lands in the valley, at the
price of five shillings an acre, payable in certifi-
cates of the public debt. This was the medium
in which the government had agreed to receive
payment for the Muskingum purchase, the price
being two thirds of a dollar per acre. Symmes
expected the same.

He issued a prospectus, also, on the 26th of
that month, announcing that a contract had been
entered into between himself and associates and
the Treasury Board, and inviting all persons to
take their choice of any township, section or quar-
ter section in the whole extent of country for
which he had applied, the whole being about two
million acres, which, until the 1st of May follow-
ing, he announced could be had, subject to prior
applications, at the price of two thirds of a dollar
per acre. The price after that period was to be
a dollar per acre. He reserved for himself, as the
site for a town he proposed to lay out, the nearest
entire township at the confluence of the Big Mi-
ami and the Ohio, and the fractional townships on
the north, south, and west sides of it. In this town
every alternate lot was offered, free of charge, to
applicants who should within two years build a
house or cabin thereon, and occupy it with a fam-
ily for three years. The prospectus was twenty-

206

OHIO.

two pages in length, and promised health, wealth,
and blessings too numerous to be recounted.

On such terms of picking and choosing, ap-
plicants were plenty. The best lands were soon
taken. Among others, Matthias Denman, of New
Jersey, took up the entire section of land immedi-
ately opposite the mouth of the Licking River.
He also had a town in view. In those days there
was no surer card for a new town than to place
it at the mouth of a river.

The improvidence and mismanagement of
Symmes were all at once divulged, and it caused
immeasurable misfortune to him, and loss to the
people who had trusted to his lavish proposals.
The Treasury Board refused to concede the entire
front on the Ohio, and would execute no contract
at all, until October 15, 1788, when General Day-
ton and Daniel Marsh intervened between them
and Symmes in behalf of the associates. The
board consented to a grant limited strictly to
twenty miles on the Ohio, beginning at the
mouth of the Big Miami, and to be measured
“ along the several courses thereof ; ” the inte-
rior, between the Big Miami and a line extend-
ing parallel with its general course northwardly
from this twenty-mile point, to be bounded north
by a line which would include a million acres. In
other words, the commissioners were unwilling to
part with so much front upon the Ohio as Symmes
demanded.

This excluded the lands sold to Stites and

THE EARLY SETTLERS .

207

many others, on or near the Little Miami, and be-
yond this north line. It also dropped the acad-
emy township. Congress and the local courts, in
which Symmes was one of the judges, were
plagued for years by the animosities and litiga-
tion growing out of violated contracts, between
him and his vendees, creditors, and associates.
The subject properly belongs to another chap-
ter on the land system of the State. It may
be said, however, that all contentions were finally
adjusted in May, 1792, by acts of Congress,
which extended the Miami purchase along the
Ohio the entire distance between the two Mi-
amis, but limited on the north by a line extend-
ing due east and west, between these rivers, so
as to include 248,540 acres, besides reservations,
that being the entire quantity for which Symmes
and his associates had paid the stipulated price.
The reservations were three sections in each
township for the United States, — one for the
purposes of religion, one for schools, one complete
township for an academy and other public schools
and seminaries of learning, a lot one mile square
at the mouth of the Big Miami, and one of fif-
teen acres for Fort Washington. The people
who had purchased lands from Symmes beyond
these limits were granted the right of preemption
on further payment to the government of two
dollars per acre. Thus ended the unhappy con-
troversy for which Judge Symmes, in his will, left
an imprecation upon the ingratitude of his coun-

208

OHIO .

try men, but which in truth was attributable to
his own utter want of method or judgment in
matters of business.

Returning now to the various schemes for towns
in the Miami purchase, we find Symmes, Stites, and
Denman all busy , in the summer of 1788, organiz-
ing their plans for the favor of posterity. Stites
was foremost, and with a strong party of friends
and followers, and provided with everything ready
for clearing and building, he landed, November
18,1788, just below the Little Miami, and in a
few days had housed and fortified his company
against the enemy. He gave his town the name
of Columbia.

Symmes and his party were at Limestone, with
Stites, but waiting for the military escort to guard
them at Fort Finney. He might have gone there
as safely as Stites. Denman also arrived, bring-
ing neither colony nor supplies. But with skill-
ful generalship he executed a flank movement by
which he gained valuable auxiliaries and strength.
He there met Colonel Robert Patterson, of Lex-
ington, Kentucky, who was himself meditating a
purchase from Symmes. Denman accompanied
him to Lexington, and there formed a partnership
with Patterson and John Filson in the town site
which he had secured, opposite the mouth of the
Licking. Colonel Patterson was a native of Penn-
sylvania, but had emigrated to Kentucky at an
early period, and became a distinguished officer in
the battles and expeditions against the Indians

THE EARLY SETTLERS .

209

and English. He was the founder of Lexington.
Filson was from Chester, Pennsylvania, and com-
menced life as a schoolmaster. Like many of
that profession he had turned surveyor and emi-
grated to Kentucky. Besides being a consider-
able dealer in lands, he had, in 1784, published
the first account of Boone, and the settlement of
Kentucky.

These three entered into articles, headed “ with
reference to Losantiville,” formally executed Au-
gust 25th, by which Denman, in consideration of
twenty pounds, Virginia currency, to be paid by
Patterson and Filson, transferred to each an equal
interest with himself in the section of land oppo-
site the mouth of the Licking. They agreed to lay
out a town and establish a ferry there, and that
“ every institution, determination, and regulation
concerning it should be the result of the united
advice and concert of the parties.” To Filson
was committed the framing of the town plat, and
he took Philadelphia for his model. The name of
Losantiville was adopted. This has been denied
by some of the antiquaries, but the paper signed
by the proprietors is conclusive. This they ad-
vertised in the “ Kentucky Gazette,” August 30.
The 15th of September was the day appointed for
a large company to meet at Lexington, and make
a road to the mouth of Licking, provided Judge
Symmes should arrive. Thirty in-lots of half an
acre each, and the same number of out-lots, four
acres each, were offered as free gifts to such set-

210

OHIO.

tiers as should become residents before the first
day of April following. In the next paper, Colo-
nel Patterson announced that the departure of
the company was postponed to September 18th, in
order to meet Judge Symmes at the place on
Monday the 22d, “and the business will then go
on as proposed.”

On the 22d of September, 1788, a large com-
pany of Kentuckians, with Colonel Patterson and
Filson at their head, arrived on the ground, and
were there met by Judge Symmes and Israel
Ludlow, chief surveyor of the Miami Associates,
who, with Denman, came down from Limestone.
The parties and interests thus assembled on what
is now the public landing or quay of Cincinnati,
pursuant to authority derived through Symmes
and the public dedication by the proprietors,
formulated by Filson’s plat, though not so stately
a pageant as that in July at Marietta, were the
inauguration of Cincinnati. It was impossible to
proceed to the immediate location of the plat, and
the donation of lots, or settlement, was not to take
place until the 1st of April following. The sur-
veys could not be commenced, nor Denman’s sec-
tion fixed, until the twenty-mile point was ascer-
tained, which was to be the key to the whole en-
terprise.

Ludlow was immediately detached for this pur-
pose, and in a few days “took the meanders ” of
the Ohio. This measurement proved that Den-
man was within the line. He and a number of

THE EARLY SETTLERS.

211

the guests remained encamped on the ground
where Colonel Clarke’s blockhouse, erected in
1780, was still standing. Judge Symmes, with
Patterson, Filson, and a large number of the Ken-
tuckians, rode out twenty miles to examine the
country. On the Big Miami they encountered an
encampment of Shawanees. The Kentuckians
instinctively proposed to open an attack, but were
forbidden by Symmes. He had assured the In-
dians of peace. This interference was so offensive
to the border men that nearly all wheeled about
and returned to the camp. Filson became alarmed,
“ had no rest afterwards,” as Symmes subsequently
reported, “ and attempting to escape to the body
of men left at the Ohio, was destroyed by the sav-
ages.” As to this nothing more is known than
that on the reassembling of the parties Filson
was missing. To this day his actual fate remains
a mystery.

This, however, by no means defeated the dedi-
cation of Losantiville ; a ridiculous compound of
French, Latin, and Greek by the unfortunate
schoolmaster intending to signify “ the town op-
posite the mouth of the Licking.” 1 The assem-
bly separated, but in Patterson’s phrase, “the
business went on.” Symmes, Denman, and Lud-
low returned to Limestone with Patterson, and
there effected an arrangement by which Ludlow
acquired Filson’s interest and became the surveyor
and principal agent in the town affair. Denman
1 Lacking] os-anti-ville.

212

OHIO.

returned to New Jersey. Patterson and Ludlow,
with a party of twelve, chiefly surveyors and as-
sistants, returned to Losantiville. Symmes re-
ported that they left Limestone December 24th,
to form a station and lay out the town. The time
of their arrival is supposed to date the settlement
of Cincinnati, but exactly when it was has baffled
all research. Mr. Perkins, in his 44 Annals of the
West,” incomparably the most intelligent guide
in the early history of the West, has noted it as a
curious fact that 44 the date of the settlement of
Cincinnati is unknown, though we have the tes-
timony of the very men who made it.”

Symmes still tarried at Limestone, waiting for
the treaty of Fort Harmar, and particularly for
the army contractor who was to bring supplies
for his guard of soldiers. In the latter part of
January, 1789, came a flood in the Ohio, the great-
est that had been known, and big also with con-
sequences to the three rival towns. It began to
subside on the 29th, and Symmes embarked with
his colony for Miami City. They found Colum-
bia submerged, only one house having escaped.
44 Losantiville suffered nothing,” he said, 44 from
the fresh.” In truth, there was nothing there to
suffer. But as they approached Miami City they
found it to be a dreary waste of backwater. The
fleet stopped at North Bend. The disaster was
not only fatal to the embryo metropolis, but Fort
Finney being made untenantable, Captain Kersey
with his soldiers abandoned Svmmes, and betook

THE EARLY SETTLERS.

213

himself to the post at the falls of the Ohio. It
was a serious blow to Symmes’ hopes and pros-
pects. In a letter to the Secretary of War he cen-
sured Kersey, and also complained of the retain-
ing of the strong garrison at Fort Harmar ; urging
that the Miami settlements be at once sustained.

His associates joined in this urgent request, but
the consequence was even more untoward. Major
Doughty was sent down in August, to “ choose
ground and lay out a new work for the protection
of the people settled in Judge Symmes’ pur-
chase.” He arrived at the Little Miami on the
16th ; and after reconn oitering for three tdays,
down to the Big Miami, for an eligible situation,
reported on the 21st to Colonel Harmar that he
had “ fixed upon a spot opposite to the Licking
River, which was high and healthy, abounding
with never-failing springs, and the most proper
position he could find for the purpose.”

This settled the question. Whatever Cincin-
nati may have suffered since by floods, she un-
doubtedly owes her start to that of 1789. Major
Doughty, with two companies, under Captains
Ferguson and Strong and Quartermaster Pratt,
companies containing a number of artificers and
mechanics, took possession of the ground on the
Ohio immediately east of the town plat, and
built Fort Washington on the second or upper
bank. As described by Colonel Harmar, it was a
solid, substantial fortress of hewn timber, about
one hundred and eighty feet square, with block-
houses at the four angles, and two stories high.

214

OHIO .

On the 29th of December Colonel Harmar
occupied the new fort as headquarters, with the
larger part of his regiment, leaving two compa-
nies at Fort Harmar. On the 2d of January,
1790, Governor St. Clair arrived on a tour to the
French posts at the West, and spent three days
in establishing the county of Hamilton. On this
occasion, as already noted, the name of Losanti-
ville was changed to that of Cincinnati. Judge
Symmes, who had part in the occasion, wrote on
the 9th, “The governor has made Losantiville
the county town by the name of Cincinnati, so
that Losantiville will become extinct.” The gov-
ernor oddly enough omitted in his diary any men-
tion of this visit.

Cincinnati for some years was but a garrison
town, without the better class of settlers who had
come to Marietta, Columbia, and North Bend.
The houses were but cabins and the inhabitants
migratory. General Harrison’s description of
Cincinnati at this time indicates that the curtain
might as well be drawn. He arrived as a young
ensign in November, 1791, and reported to Gen-
eral Harmar just as the wretched remnants of
St. Clair’s rout were coming in. “ The village,
then composed of twenty-five or thirty cabins,” he
says, “ afforded nothing to relieve their wants.
But the inhabitants, as well as the sutlers, ap-
peared to have an abundant supply of whiskey,
for which their unhappy victims exchanged the
remains of their scanty pay. I certainly saw

THE EARLY SETTLERS.

215

more drunken men in the forty-eight hours suc-
ceeding my arrival at Cincinnati than I had in all
my previous life.” This was the blighting effect
of the war. But in three years Cincinnati must
have worn a different aspect. In 1793, one of the
infantry officers in Wayne’s army tauntingly
writes to his comrades, the dragoons, across the
river, u We have taken quarters at Munson’s tav-
ern, where we live in clover.” It was not until
the treaty of Greenville, however, that it acquired
any growth. The population in 1800 was but
seven hundred and fifty.

Dr. Goforth, the most respectable physician at
that time in Ohio, describing the settlements in
a letter to a friend, besides the places already
referred to, mentions South Bend on the Ohio,
Dunlap’s Station or Colerain on the Big Miami,
and Covalt’s Station on the Little Miami. The
“ Stations ” were strong buildings of logs in the
fashion of blockhouses, the upper story projecting
over the lower story and pierced with loopholes
for riflemen. To these, in case of alarm, the
neighboring farmers betook themselves with their
families. They were impregnable to the Indians,
except by fire communicated by arrows.

Farther up the Ohio emigrants of another sort
had arrived, people born to misfortune. They
were refugees from France, who, fleeing the im-
pending reign of terror at Lyons and Paris, had
been trapped by sharpers, who pretended, under
the name and title of the Scioto Company, to

216

OHIO.

sell them lands on the Ohio River. How that
company originated, and clothed itself with the
pretense of title, under which the frauds were
perpetrated, has been explained in part. The
purchase by the Ohio Company was enlarged, it
will be remembered, to make room for some New
Yorkers, represented by Colonel Duer. Congress
authorized a sale of all the land between the
Seven Ranges and the Scioto River. This was
divided by the Treasury Board into two contracts,
but of the same date. One included a tract on
the Ohio River, bounded on the east by the seven
ranges (five or six miles above Marietta), west by
the west line of the seventeenth range, and north
by a line which would include a million and a
half acres, besides reservations. The reservations
were two townships for a university, and five sec-
tions out of every other township ; two of which
were for the support of religion and public schools,
and the other three for disposal by Congress. The
other contract included the lands between the
seventeenth range and the Scioto River. By a
special article in the first-mentioned contract, the
Ohio Company were admitted at once to the pos-
session and use of the lands east of the west line
of the fifteenth range, containing half the pur-
chase. A circumstance material to be observed
is that the west line of this fifteenth range inter-
sects the Ohio below Gallipolis.

Two days after these contracts were executed,
the agents of the Ohio Company transferred the

THE EARLY SETTLERS.

217

western portion in accordance with the arrange-
ment already made between Dr. Cutler and Colo-
nel Duer. The transaction, so far, seems to have
been approved by a meeting of the directors of
the Ohio Company on the 21st of November, at
Boston. Under these arrangements, apparently,
an association of persons at New York, styled the
Scioto Company, sent Mr. Joel Barlow as their
agent to Europe, in June, 1788, to dispose of
these lands. He some time afterwards employed
as assistants De Saisson, a Frenchman, and Wil-
liam Playfair, a civil engineer, residing at Paris.
Playfair was a brother of the distinguished mathe-
matician of Edinburgh, and had a conspicuous hand
in the destruction of the Bastile. Advertisements
and maps of a highly imaginary colony were
circulated, and lands on the Belle Riviere were
offered for sale at tempting rates. They were
represented as being immediately adjacent to the
settled and cultivated country, and having charms
of climate, health, and scenery such as to rival
Arcadia or the Yale of Tempe. Hundreds of peo-
ple seeking for chances to emigrate were thus
inveigled to the Ohio.

It is usually stated that their emigration oc-
curred in 1790, but Governor St. Clair, in his re-
port to the President at New York, just before
Harmar’s campaign, stated that a considerable
number had arrived in the territory in the fall of
the year previous. On his late return from the
West he had found about four hundred of them at

218

OHIO .

a place three miles below the Kanawha, which
they had named Gallipolis. A hundred more
were waiting at Marietta, and another hundred
were on their way through Pennsylvania. They
were living in long rows of cabins provided for
them by the Scioto Company. They seemed to
him to have no useful employment, and were not
only discontented, but many of them were dis-
posed to be mutinous. He had stopped to make
them a visit, and immediately on landing a depu-
tation waited upon him and presented a paper
in which they recited their wrongs. As he was
wholly unacquainted with their contracts, and did
not choose to rely upon their statements, nor on
those of the agent of the Scioto Company, who
was residing there, he had entreated them to have
patience until the matter could be investigated by
the proper authorities. But as they were in great
dread of the Indians he had advised them to or-
ganize themselves at once for defense, as well as
for their own peace and order, by selecting offi-
cers, civil and military. He had directed that
they should send him the names of these as soon
as practicable, that he might regularly appoint
them.

These people were not all carvers, gilders, pe-
ruke-makers, or pastry cooks, as often represented.
Many were farmers and mechanics, and some were
men of education and capacity. But it does not
appear that, as a community, they made any effort
to help themselves out of the difficulty into which

THE EARLY SETTLERS .

219

they had been duped. Their project, if they had
any, was sunk and lost, as Governor St. Clair ap-
prehended, in “ disappointment and chagrin. An
interested speculation of a few men, pursued,” as
he said, “ with too great avidity, reflected some
disgrace upon the American character, while it in-
volved numbers in absolute ruin, in a foreign
land.”

This scandalous transaction for a while excited
intense indignation. But it was so skillfully
smothered by the donation of land which Con-
gress made in March, 1795, to relieve the survi-
vors, and known as the French Grant, that it is
difficult to trace with accuracy who were the con-
trivers and perpetrators of the cruel swindle. A
retributory feature in it was that the sub-agents
also swindled the principals. The most authentic
statement, perhaps, is a report by the Attorney
General to the Senate, in March, 1794, upon the
petition of the French for relief. Only a few of
its points can be mentioned.

That to which he called attention, among the
first, was that the town and lands just below the
Kanawha, to which the emigrants had been sent
by Colonel Duer on landing, were not in the
tract originally assigned to the Scioto Company,
but farther up the river, and much within the
limits of the Ohio Company’s land. The Ohio
Company, he observed, had made no objection to
this for some time, notwithstanding the notoriety
of the fact. This had been explained by the

220

OHIO.

statement of a member of Congress, that the orig-
inal purchase by Duer and his associates had be-
come impracticable by the great rise in the price of
certificates, and that a new arrangement had been
made to accommodate the French immigration.

The new arrangement was a sale by the Ohio
Company to the Scioto Company of a tract of
one hundred thousand acres at the west end of
their lands. This included the lands at and near
to Gallipolis, so conspicuously pointed out in the
maps and deeds which Barlow and his brokers
at Paris * had been issuing. The deed for this
purpose had once been seen, the attorney-general
stated, by a committee of the House of Repre-
sentatives, and he was satisfied that it was an
absolute conveyance. This deed had since been
given up and cancelled, on the ground that the
purchase money had not been paid. On this
latter point there was no evidence. No one had
appeared for the Ohio Company in the investi-
gation.

Another surprising point in this report is the
version it gives of that very obscure subject, the
original transfer by the Ohio Company to Duer
and his associates. There was a separate con-
tract, as we have seen, between the Treasury
Board and the Ohio Company for that part of
the grant by Congress which lay between the
seventeenth range and the Scioto River. The
attorney-general found that it had not been trans-
ferred to Duer and his associates, entire. The

THE EARLY SETTLERS.

221

transfer, made two days after the Ohio Company
acquired the contract, was but of a moiety only.
A half, therefore, was retained, and it was agreed
that Messrs. Cutler and Sargent and their asso-
ciates should have an interest in the profits aris-
ing from the sales, and that Duer should employ
agents and manage the disposal of the lands in
Europe or elsewhere. To secure the Ohio Com-
pany in their right of preemption, which was
dependent upon a further payment of five hun-
dred thousand dollars, in certificates, to the Treas-
ury Board, Duer engaged to advance them one
hundred thousand dollars, part of which was to
be reimbursed by subscriptions to be raised by
the agents of the Ohio Company.

Whether or no these transactions of their agents
were authorized by the Ohio Company, the attor-
ney-general left undetermined, like the question
as to the consideration of the deed, for the want
of proper evidence. He points to it, however,
as a significant circumstance, that the agents of
the Ohio Company two years previously, when
soliciting the donation of one hundred thousand
acres of land which Congress voted to them
April 21, 1792, had stated this grant to the Scioto
Company and the loss they were likely to sus-
tain by it, in order to enforce their claim be-
fore a committee of the House of Representatives.
This, perhaps, was the occasion when the deed
was seen. Another circumstance indicating how
closely the agents and officers of the Ohio Com-

222

OHIO .

pany were identified in laying out the town and
disposing of the lands at Gallipolis appears in
General Putnam’s superintendence. It was
through him, as appears by the statement of Mr.
J. P. R. Bureau, one of the most respectable of
the French settlers, that Major Burnham and a
considerable force of mechanics and laborers were
employed previously to the arrival of the French
to clear the land and erect the cabins, block-
houses, etc., for their reception. It seems, also,
from General Harmar’s correspondence, that Gen-
eral Putnam was soliciting subscriptions in June,
1790, for shares in the “ Scioto speculation.”

The attorney-general, assuming the facts, con-
cluded that the French settlers might have a
valid title in equity against the Ohio Company
for their lands. But as there was no court in
the Northwest Territory competent to determine
such cases, and any further delay or uncertainty
added to the distress which they had already
undergone must be fatal, he recommended the
grant of lands which the petitioners sought. Con-
gress adopted his view and appropriated a tract of
twenty-four thousand acres of land on the banks
of the Ohio (in Lawrence County), to be divided
in equal lots among the French inhabitants act-
ually remaining at Gallipolis November 1, 1794,
all widows and all male persons above the age
of eighteen years participating. An addition of
twelve hundred acres was granted for some who
had been prevented from sharing in the first
grant.

THE EARLY SETTLERS . 223

It was of little avail. The sufferers, most of
them, were scattered, in despondency, or dead, be-
fore the relief came, and those who received it
were not much better off than before. They
were visited in the summer of 1796 by their coun-
tryman, Volney, who found them still at Galli-
polis, forlorn in appearance, with pale faces,
sickly looks, and anxious air, still inhabiting a
double row of whitewashed log huts, patched with
clay, damp, unwholesome, and uncomfortable.
But, he concludes, that severe as the hardship
was for men brought up in the ease and indo-
lence of Paris, to chop trees, to plow, to sow, to
reap, to labor in the field or the barn, in a tem-
perature of eighty-five to ninety-five degrees, it
was in some degree imputable to their own infat-
uation, as the French had no faculty like that of
the English, Irish, or German emigrants for set-
tling a new country. A visit to Vincennes con-
vinced him that Gallipolis was a mistake.

Among the men of superior intelligence and po-
sition who were victimized in this knavery, none
better deserves mention than the Count Malar-
tie. He was a soldier, and happened to descend
the Ohio with some of the officers who were
about to join in General St. Clair’s campaign.
He volunteered his services, and was appointed
one of St. Clair’s aids. In the defeat, November
4, 1791, he was wounded, but escaped the mas-
sacre. His gallantry won him great credit. He
was soon recalled to France in the king’s service,

224

OHIO.

and was again wounded in battle, besides losing
most of his fortune by confiscation. But he re-
tained his admiration for American democracy.
In a letter to Governor St. Clair, deploring the
excesses of the French, he exclaimed, 44 Here they
cut each other’s throats, each struggling for the
power. Yours is the only country to live in.”

So far, the Virginians had been interdicted by
a resolution of Congress (July 17, 1788) from
entering lands north of the Ohio on their mili-
tary warrants, as these were to be available only
when there was a deficiency of good lands in Ken-
tucky. Surveys and entries, nevertheless, had
been made the first, it is said, on August 1, 1787,
at the mouth of Eagle Creek. But the restriction
ceased August 1, 1790. In December, Nathaniel
Massie, a Virginian, one of the first and most
enterprising surveyors and land operators in the
district, established the town of Massie ville
(Manchester), twelve miles above Maysville,
where thirty families were settled in a well-pick-
eted stockade and blockhouse ; the station of the
greatest danger, probably, on the river.

From the year 1787 to 1796, that is to say,
more than half the interval between Governor
St. Clair’s inauguration and the formation of
Ohio as a State, this thin fringe of villages and
adjacent settlements along the north bank of the
Ohio, with a white population of not more than
five thousand all told, was the inception of the
new State which, in a few years, was to reach
from the Ohio to Lake Erie.

TEE EARLY SETTLERS .

225

The Lake Shore was as yet wholly avoided.
Under French and English rule it had all the at-
traction, and the Ohio none. The inversion was
due chiefly to the menacing border of English
and Indians, but in no small degree to the preten-
tious sovereignty still kept up by Connecticut.
This was a “ barren sceptre ” every way, but a
rare example how persistence may wear away
rocks.

The untimely tenacity of Connecticut during
the war, and the subsequent effort of Congress to
quiet the title of the United States, had so far
yielded, as already seen, that in September, 1786,
Congress accepted a qualified cession from Con-
necticut of all territory south of the forty-first
degree of latitude, and west of a line one hundred
and twenty miles west of Pennsylvania. The
space thus left became known as the Connecticut
or Western Reserve. A tract of one hundred
miles, next west of Pennsylvania, had been re-
leased by Connecticut in 1755 to one Samuel
Hazard, on condition that the king should grant
a patent. His son Samuel applied to the Con-
necticut assembly in 1774 for a confirmation, rep-
resenting that three or four thousand people, if
it were granted, would remove there and form a
colony. This was refused.

In May, 1792, a donation of half a million
acres, at the west end of the Reserve, was be-
stowed by Connecticut upon her citizens who had
suffered by “ incursions of the enemy during the

226

OHIO.

late war,” and hence known as the Firelands.
The remainder of the tract between the lake and
the forty-first degree of latitude, estimated to be
3,200,000 acres, was sold by Connecticut in 1795
to the Connecticut Land Company, composed of
about three hundred and twenty of the wealthier
citizens of the State. The price was $1,200,000,
and this was converted into a state school-fund.
The two companies were formally incorporated
by Connecticut, who thus kept up her form or
show of jurisdiction, but after the establishment
of Ohio as a State they were obliged to rehabili-
tate themselves with new charters and powers.
These pretensions seriously hindered the settle-
ment of the country. Few of the proprietors in
either of the companies seemed disposed to
risk their lives or happiness in seeking homes on
their lands, and few people were disposed to buy
their titles. The first settlement or landing of
Connecticut people in the Reserve was on July
4, 1796, at the mouth of Conneaut Creek, the
northeast corner of Ohio. It was a company of
fifty-two persons, two of them women, led by
Moses Cleaveland, a lawyer of Canterbury, Con-
necticut, and a pioneer of whom the people of
the Lake Shore justly pride themselves. He was
sent out as the general agent of the Connecticut
Land Company, with Augustus Porter as chief,
and five others as assistant surveyors. These
and their assistants composed the party, Joshua
Stowe being the commissary. Their first essay

THE EARLY SETTLERS.

227

was to celebrate the day with double honors.
Though the feast they spread was not as ample
as that which at Marietta had inaugurated the
Fourth of July in the Northwest, it was worthy
of that patriotism and pride with which the day
was kept for two generations in Ohio.

The next morning they proceeded to the erec-
tion of 44 Stowe Castle,” a log edifice sufficiently
commodious to hold the commissary’s stores, and
afford a shelter for the mothers and their children.
A harmless band of Indians (Massassaugas) oc-
cupied the vicinity. Porter and his assistants
began work by establishing the south line of the
Connecticut claim, along the forty-first parallel,
from the west boundary of Pennsjdvania to the
Indian line, just established between the Cuya-
hoga and the Tuscarawas. In fixing the initial
point at the Pennsylvania line, it has been
stoutly insisted of late that by imperfection of
instruments half a mile too much was taken,
though corrected as the line approached the port-
age. But the error is as stoutly denied. The
southeastern townships of the Connecticut claim
were also laid off, and one of them immediately
secured by John Young, the founder of Youngs-
town.

Thus much accomplished, the surveyors pro-
ceeded up the Lake Shore to the Cuyahoga River,
where the western point had long been a depot
for the Detroit and Pittsburgh traders. Cleave-
land’s surveyors landed on the opposite point and

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OHIO.

laid out the town. In his honor, as representa-
tive of the proprietors, his name was given to it,
but stands transformed to Cleveland. The drop-
ping of a letter was necessitated, it is said, to fit
the headline of the small sheet on which the first
newspaper of the town was printed.

Until the following year two families consti-
tuted the town. The western point was, and
long had been, a place of consequence to the In-
dians as well as to traders. Evan’s map of 1755
marks a “ French house” near there. At a later
period Duncan and Wilson, the largest traders
between Pittsburgh and Detroit, erected a log
warehouse for the business which was carried by
horse trains between those points. Zeisberger
and his little band of refugees also made their
landing here in 1786, when they returned from
Detroit and Canada to seek their old homes.

Here the colonization of New Connecticut
halted for some years, under adverse circum-
stances. In the mean time events of importance
occurred upon the Ohio* to which it will be neces-
sary now to return.

CHAPTER IX.

ST. CLAIR’S ADMINISTRATION AND THE INDIAN
WAR.

The first government of the Northwest Terri-
tory was committed by Congress, in October, 1787,
to Arthur St. Clair as governor, and Samuel H.
Parsons, John Armstrong, and James W. Varnum
as judges, Winthrop Sargent being appointed
secretary. Armstrong declined, and in February,
1788, John Cleves Symmes was appointed in his
place.

All of them but Symmes had served actively in
the army of the Revolution, St. Clair as a major-
general, Parsons and Varnum as brigadiers. St.
Clair was of a distinguished Scotch family, and
came early in life to America as an ensign in
Amherst's army. At the close of the French and
Indian war he married a lady of Boston, purchased
lands in western Pennsylvania, and there made
his home. In the hot contentions between the
Penns and the Virginia governors for possession
of the heads of the Ohio River, St. Clair sup-
ported his governor with a degree of ardor so of-
fensive to Dunmore, that the Virginian demanded
his dismissal from office. Penn mildly replied

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OHIO.

that he could not be spared. From the com-
mencement of the colonial troubles he was equally
ardent in the patriot party. At the time he was
chosen governor of the Northwest Territory he
was President of Congress.

The new governor did not enter the field until
the following summer. On the Ohio the situation
was thought hopeful, though danger lurked on
every side. There were military posts at Pitts-
burgh, Fort McIntosh, Fort Harmar, Fort Steu-
ben (Falls of the Ohio), and at Vincennes, but all
were dependent for their garrisons upon the ten
companies of Lieutenant-Colonel Harmar’s regi-
ment, which then composed the entire army of
the United States. There were villages at various
points, chiefly those of Wheeling, Kanawha, and
Limestone (Maysville). Thirty thousand people
were estimated to have gone to the interior of
Kentucky, but how fearfully they were suffering
appears from a letter of Judge Innes to the Secre-
tary of War, in 1790, which stated that in the
seven previous years fifteen hundred men, women,
and children had been slain, or carried captive,
by the Indians, and thousands of horses, and fifty
thousand dollars of other property, plundered or
destroyed.

The country north of the Ohio was, in 1788, a
hostile land. There were squatters and villages,
but no regular community except the little colony
just forming under the guns of Fort Harmar.
The Moravians were on the Huron and Cuyahoga

ST. CLAIR AND THE INDIAN WAR. 231

rivers, struggling to regain their lost homes on
the Tuscarawas. The French were living in
their old villages and farms at Detroit and the
posts on the Wabash and Mississippi. But the
banks of the Ohio were infested with Indian war
parties, determined to hold the river, and filled
with implacable hatred of the Americans, especially
the Virginians, or Long Knives. They were in-
cited and supported by the officers and emissaries
of the British government in Canada, who were
equally embittered by the alleged perfidy of the
United States in violating the treaty stipulations
in favor of the loyalists and British creditors.
Upon this pretext Great Britain withheld the
posts at Detroit, Sandusky, and the Maumee, and
from these vantage-points kept control of the
Indian confederation, and of all the Lake Shore
from Niagara up to Mackinac.

This was the field of operations to which St.
Clair was sent, with his cabinet and legislature
of judges. He was also special commissioner to
make treaties for peace with the Indians, and
therefore was still further embarrassed by the
bloody war of retaliation going on between them
and the Kentuckians. As to the true balance of
right and wrong, Judge Innes’ lamentation would
be imperfectly understood without at least a
glance at the raids which the Kentuckians were
making across the Ohio. In the years to which
he refers there had been a dozen of these hostile
expeditions. They form conspicuous chapters in

232

OHIO.

the early history of Ohio, but only a rapid survey
is possible here.

They began with an incursion by Boone, accom-
panied by twenty men, to Paint Creek, in 1778,
which was suddenly checked by meeting a large
force of Canadians and Indians on their way to
Kentucky. By a rapid retreat to Boonesborough,
Boone and his men made ready and saved it from
destruction. In the next year Colonel Bowman
attacked and destroyed the old Chillicothe town
above Xenia. In the summer of 1780 General
Clarke (George Rogers) assembled two regiments
under Colonels Logan and Linn, with artillery, at
the mouth of the Licking, to attack the Shawa-
nees town on Mad River (near Springfield). De-
spite the secrecy which they used and their rapid
march, the Indians had spied his movement and
fled. Their towns were reduced to ashes, their
cornfields and gardens laid waste, and the large
force returned with this barren result to Ken-
tucky. Immediately after the bloody disaster at
the Blue Licks, in 1782, General Clarke and his
brigade, under Colonels Floyd and Logan, pursued
the Indians and overtook the rear, with their
spoils, just as they reached the Mad River towns.
Many of them were killed or captured, but they
vanished, as before, leaving their fields and cabins
to destruction. Colonel Logan was detached to
attack the upper town at Piqua, on the Big
Miami. This and Loramie’s store were both
destroyed. This Frenchman and his store were

ST. CLAIR AND THE INDIAN WAR. 233

not at Piqua, as sometimes stated, but on the west
fork of the Miami, fifteen or twenty miles above ;
a noted rendezvous of the hostile savages, and
a landmark in the treaties. The quick pursuit
and revenge thus inflicted for the defeat at the
Blue Licks cowed the Shawanees, so that for
a while their great incursions into Kentucky were
discontinued. But the murders and robbery by
marauding parties, constantly kept up, led to two
more expeditions in October, 1786: one under
General Clarke to punish the tribes on the Wa-
bash ; the other under Colonel Logan, in support
of Clarke’s movement, which again attacked those
at the head of Mad River. These scattered as
usual, but Logan pursued them up to the Maca-
cheek towns, destroying them and capturing some
prisoners. An interesting sketch of this expedi-
tion has been left by General William Lytle, who
served in it, though but a boy of sixteen years.
Two further expeditions were made against the
Indians on the Scioto in 1786 and 1790; the
former by Colonel Todd, and the latter by Gen-
eral Scott, aided by Colonel Harmar and a party
of regular troops, but without any material result.
Separate expeditions equally unimportant were
conducted by General Scott and Colonel Wilkin-
son against the Wabash Indians, in the summer
of 1791.

These dashes, as they were called, serve to
show what a wild and aimless but mutually exas-
perating method of warfare harried the banks of

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OHIO .

the Ohio for many years. They were not merely
inconsequential but injurious ; provoking constant
retaliation, inflicting injury, without conquest or
any actual victory over the Indians.

From this exhibition we get a conception of
what Governor St. Clair had before him when he
landed at the Muskingum, July 9, 1788, saluted
by the guns of the fort, and cordially hailed by
the village of three months’ growth, which, for the
present, was the capital of the Northwest. Judges
Parsons and Varnum had preceded him. Colo-
nel Sargent, the secretary, arrived on the 15th,
bearing the official transcript of the Ordinance,
and the commissions of the governor and judges.
An assembly of the inhabitants and the garrison
was immediately convoked, at which the governor
presided, attended by the judges ; and these cre-
dentials being publicly read and proclaimed, the
government of the Northwest Territory, parent of
many States, was inaugurated.

The governor’s first step was to establish the
county of Washington, covering all that portion
of the territory which lay east of the Scioto and
Cuyahoga rivers. Courts of Common Pleas and
Quarter Sessions were formed, with proper judges
and officers for each, and for the county. The
Court of Common Pleas was opened with great
ceremony on the 2d of September, Colonel Eben-
ezer Sproat, the sheriff, six feet and four inches
in height, marching with drawn sword and wand
of office at the head of the judges, governor, and

ST. CLAIR AND THE INDIAN WAR. 235

secretary, preceded by a military escort and a
number of Indians, to the blockhouse of the
Campus Martius, where the temple of justice was
first opened in Ohio. On the 9th the judge of
the Quarter Sessions, also, was installed. There
being no case on the docket of either court, the
tribunals were formally adjourned.

St. Clair promptly turned his attention to the
treaty for conciliating the Indians. He had al-
ready taken measures at Pittsburgh for an early
council with them on the Upper Muskingum.
This was frustrated by an attack of some vagrant
Ottawas and Chippewas upon the military, who
were guarding the ground and supplies for the
occasion. It was therefore deferred until Decem-
ber. At that time he received, and for some
weeks entertained, a concourse of Indians, who, as
it afterwards turned out, had no authority from
their nations, not a chief or warrior of any note
being among them. Brandt and others were con-
fidently expected as delegates from the Six Na-
tions, but turned aside on their way ; the wily
chief being engaged in a double game, with both
sides, British and American. In explanation of
this approach and sudden drawing off, there was a
popular romance of the time that Brandt aspired
to the hand of Louisa St. Clair, the governor’s
elder daughter, a famous rider and an excellent
shot. It was even credited that the feeling was
reciprocated, and that the fearless maiden often
rode to the trysting in the woods, far from the

236

OHIO.

fort. But it was mere romance. In a speech by
Brandt, in 1794, he explained his conduct by stat-
ing that Governor St. Clair, as he had discovered,
would not listen to proposals for observing the
Ohio River as the boundary ; he therefore would
not meet him.

St. Clair’s object was to obtain from the Sene-
cas and other tribes on the Ohio the ratification
of a boundary supposed to have been gained by
cessions of the Mingoes at Fort McIntosh, and of
the Shawanees at Fort Finney. He had no diffi-
culty with the rabble assembled at Fort Harrnar.
As Brandt anticipated, St. Clair showed more of
the soldier than the peace commissioner in an-
swering their claim of the Ohio. It had been
given up at the late treaties, he told them, by
their brethren. By taking sides with England
they, as well as their great ally, had forfeited all
title. But if they wanted war they should have
it. This kind of logic admitted of no further
parley. The Indians signed the treaties as dic-
tated to them, and in the language of Major
Denny, a witness, “ this was the last of the farce.”
Unhappily it was not the last of the delusion.

The governor had, in the meanwhile, united
with the judges in their arduous office as legisla-
tors ; as arduous, perhaps, as ever was imposed
upon a legislative board. For a country so im-
mense and a people so scattered, their statutes
must be such as, virtually, would execute therm
selves. Very appropriately the first law passed

ST. CLAIR AND THE INDIAN WAR. 237

was “ an act to establish and regulate the militia,
published at Marietta on the 25th day of July,
1788.” A division arose between the governor
and the two judges as to some of its provisions,
and the question was raised whether the gover-
nor, though outvoted, might not exercise his veto
power. The governor objected, also, that it was
a new law, whereas they only had the power to
adopt such laws as were established in some
State. The governor on this occasion yielded,
and would have been fortunate had he oftener
been as moderate. Congress, however, disap-
proved the opinion of the judges that, in cases of
necessity, they might issue new laws.

Ten chapters of territorial laws were published
in the course of the year, but as there was neither
press nor printer in the territory, they were is-
sued in writing, certified by the governor and
judges, and circulated by copies, some of which
are extant yet. Those which were issued prior
to January 1, 1792, were collected and printed
that year at Philadelphia. A second volume of
the laws published between July and December,
1792, was printed at Philadelphia in 1794. In
1796 a third volume was printed by William
Maxwell at Cincinnati, and hence styled “ the
Maxwell Code,” probably the first book printed
in the Northwest Territory. The fourth and last
volume, of the laws of the governor and judges
was printed at Cincinnati in 1798, by Edward
Freeman. The laws subsequently enacted by the

238

OHIO.

territorial assembly made three additional vol-
umes.

While the governor and judges were engaged
in their lawmaking, they were joined by Judge
Symmes, who arrived at Marietta August 27,

1788, bringing a little fleet of boats, conveying
his own and other families of immigrants, destined
for his embryo city of Miami, near to Fort Fin-
ney and the mouth of the Big Miami. He re-
mained only three days to unite with his col-
leagues in the laws for establishing the territorial
and county courts, being under an engagement
to meet Denman, Patterson, and Filson the next
month at the founding of their town opposite the
mouth of the Licking River.

The succession of the territorial judges, until
the admission of Ohio into the Union, was in the
following order : Judge Varnum, died in January,

1789. All offices becoming vacant on the accession
of the new government under the Constitution,
the governor, secretary, and Judges Parsons and
Symmes were reappointed, and George Turner in
the place of Varnum, in August, 1789. Judge
Parsons was drowned in November, while at-
tempting to shoot the rapids of Beaver River in
a canoe. Rufus Putnam was appointed in his
place, but resigned in December, 1796, on being
promoted to the office of surveyor general, Jo-
seph Gilman being named to succeed him. Judge
Turner had various difficulties, and resigned. Re-
turn Jonathan Meigs, Jr., was appointed to fill

ST. CLAIR AND THE INDIAN WAR. 239

the vacancy, and he, with Judges Symmes and
Gilman, constituted the court until the State of
Ohio was established.

Governor St. Clair proclaimed Christmas to
his people as Thanksgiving day. Having con-
cluded his Indian treaty and set his territory
going as far as practicable, he repaired to the
city of New York, and with others of Washing-
ton’s generals joined in the inauguration of their
beloved chief as President, in April, 1789. Dur-
ing the entire session of Congress, which contin-
ued until October, he was attending upon its com-
mittees and the cabinet, aiding and advising in
the legislation necessary to adapt the provisions
of the Ordinance of 1787 to the new govern-
ment. Amendatory laws were made which ena-
bled the secretary to act as governor in case of a
vacancy or absence. The governor was empow-
ered to call the militia of the states into service,
when necessary to protect the frontier settlers.
Laws were passed to confirm the French and
Canadians, or other settlers, in lands lawfully
acquired under the former governments. Full
deliberations were had also as to the policy to be
pursued by the government in relation to the
Indians, a subject much complicated by the un-
friendly attitude of the British cabinet and the
weak state of the federal finances. Full instruc-
tions were given to St. Clair. General Washing-
ton added a letter of personal injunction that war
with the Indians was to be avoided by every

240

OHIO.

means consistent with the security of the frontier
people and the honor of the country. To this
end St. Clair was instructed to ascertain at once,
and inform him, whether the Indians of the Wa-
bash and Illinois were for war or peace, and the
cause of their hostility. If they were implacable
and continued their warfare, St. Clair was au-
thorized to call out fifteen hundred of the Vir-
ginia and Pennsylvania militia, either offensively
or defensively, as he and Colonel Harmar should
determine. He was instructed, also, to carry out
the measures directed by Congress for settling
land claims on the Wabash and Mississippi.

On this mission Governor St. Clair returned to
Marietta, and, after disposing of affairs there,
embarked for the Mississippi. He stopped Janu-
ary 2, 1790, at Fort Washington, erected during
the previous autumn at the new town (Losanti-
ville) opposite the Licking River. Here the gov-
ernor spent three days, and met Judge Symmes.
On the 4th he established the county of Hamilton,
extending from the Ohio River north, between
the two Miamis, to a line drawn from “ the
Standing Stone Forks” (or branch) of the Big
Miami due east to the Little Miami. Losanti-
ville now disappeared, being declared by the
governor, by virtue of his office, the county seat,
by the name of Cincinnati.

Doubtless this was with the assent of Ludlow
and the proprietors, but on St. Clair’s part it was
a heartfelt tribute to the patriot society in

ST. CLAIR AND THE INDIAN WAR. 241

which Washington and his officers signalized their
devotion to the noble example of the old Roman.
The name given to the county was a tribute, also,
to the distinguished soldier and statesman who
was next to Washington in the heart of St.
Clair.

Passing on to the West, he and the secretary
were busily occupied the next six months. In
settling the disputed titles, St. Clair’s accomplish-
ment in the French language gave him great ad-
vantage, as also in explaining the bearing of the
anti-slavery clause in the Ordinance, which these
people violently denounced. St. Clair defended
the clause, and succeeded in allaying their fears
by assuring them that it had no retroactive ef-
fect. Numbers, notwithstanding, removed across
the Mississippi, where the Spaniards promised
them immunity from all trouble on that score.

At the same time he was managing through
Major Hamtramck, the commandant at Vin-
cennes, an able and most efficient officer, to sound
the Indians on the Wabash and Maumee, accord-
ing to the instructions of the President. A speech
of the governor to the tribes, communicating
Washington’s strong desire of peace, and urging
them to come and meet him, was sent out by
a trusty messenger. Along with his amicable
proffers of peace he unfortunately introduced the
phrase used at Fort Harmar, “ accept it, or re-
ject it, as you please.” This the fiery warriors
on the Wabash regarded as a defiance, and drove
the messenger back.

242

OHIO.

Recourse was had to Antoine Gamelin, a
French trader, whose long intercourse, honest
dealing, good heart, and perfect bonhommie had
given him universal popularity among the tribes.
Much as they liked him, and always avowing
their faith in him, the Indians passed him on
from tribe to tribe, with no answer to the speech
or invitation until he arrived on the Maumee.
Here the chiefs were outspoken. “ The Ameri-
cans,” they said, “ send us nothing but speeches,
and no two are alike. They intend to deceive
us. Detroit was the place where the fire was
lighted ; there is where it ought first to be put
out. The English commander is our father since
he threw down our French father; we can do
nothing without his approbation.”

Gamelin returned hopeless, and Hamtramck,
in transmitting his report to the governor, added
that since Gamelin’s return, traders who had ar-
rived brought information that war parties, more
numerous than ever, were going to the Ohio. No
doubt the new fort, erected between the Miamis,
had excited fresh exasperation, and the blow
fell with terrible fatality upon the emigrants,
who, in false security, were descending the Ohio
in large numbers. The ambuscades were never
more savage than in the spring of 1790. One
party of fifty-four Shawanees and Cherokees,
from the Pickaway villages, posted themselves on
the north bank of the Ohio, about six miles above
the Scioto, in March, and by means of a captured

ST. CLAIR AND THE INDIAN WAR. 243

boat and a decoy of white prisoners created such
havoc among the passing boats that all Kentucky
was alarmed.

Dropping his business on the Mississippi, St.
Clair hastened to Fort Washington, where he
met Harmar, July 11, now promoted to the rank
of brigadier-general. They concerted an imme-
diate campaign by two expeditions, to march,
September 15, against the Miamis, at the head
of the Maumee River. One, commanded by Ham-
tramck, was to move up the Wabash ; the other,
and larger force, under General Harmar, was to
assemble at Fort Washington and march directly
north in concert with the other wing. For this
purpose fifteen hundred militia were required of
the county lieutenants of Virginia (Kentucky)
and Pennsylvania, to report and concentrate with
Harmar’s regular troops at Fort Washington.

The governor’s personal diligence and zeal in
preparing the expedition will be seen by a mere
reference to his itinerary. General Harmar re-
mained at Fort Washington to organize his force..
St. Clair made a flying visit to Kentucky, and
thence to Pittsburgh, hastening the levies. From
there he went to New York to report to the Presi-
dent the failure of his effort with the Indians,
and the necessity of the expedition, and to aid
the War Office in forwarding the necessary arms
and supplies. All this was accomplished in two
months, so that on September 23d he was back
at Fort Washington to see the expedition started.

244

OHIO.

There was not force sufficient for the intended
movement up the Wabash, but on the 26th Gen-
eral Harmar, with fourteen hundred and fifty-
three troops and six pieces of artillery, three hun-
dred and twenty of the troops being regulars, and
four companies of the militia mounted, set out on
the campaign. This resulted in failure, though
by no means defeat.

The Miamis fled as Harmar approached, and
their towns at the head of the Maumee were
destroyed. This was all that General Knox had
ordered, and according to Indian warfare was a
success. But the militia colonels were bent upon
a fight, and Harmar unwisely yielded. They
were defeated, and lost so heavily in two ambus-
cades, that, though he brought his little army
back in good order, the disaster and the discords
which broke out between the officers of the regu-
lars and the insubordinate militia inflicted a
stigma upon Harmar’s reputation, especially in
Kentucky, which was fatal to him, though highly
unjust.

Another campaign was called for. Congress
responded by adding another regiment to the
regular army, and authorizing another draft for
fifteen hundred militia. But it was limited to six
months’ men, and the command, owing to the
aversion of the Kentuckians to Harmar, was given
to Governor St. Clair. For this purpose he was
appointed a major-general, and General Richard
Butler of Pennsylvania a brigadier, and second

ST. CLAIR AND THE INDIAN WAR. 245

in command, early in 1791. Most ominous, how-
ever, were the appointments of Colonel William
Duer as chief commissary and contractor, and
Samuel Hodgdon, another satellite of the public
offices, as chief quartermaster. Colonel Duer’s
only appearance in the campaign was at the Treas-
ury, where, as Knox, the Secretary of War, wrote
to St. Clair, he was in attendance in March, and
drew $70,000, as reported by a committee of
Congress.

The dismal details of this campaign need not
be recited. Its object was to repair the mistake
of General Knox in the Harmar expedition, by
establishing a strong military post at the head of
the Maumee ; and to give full time for this, St.
Clair was to have marched from Fort Washington
on the 10th of July. But General Butler, who
superintended the recruiting and forwarding of
the new troops, and Hodgdon, upon whom the
equipments and outfit mainly depended, did not
arrive at Fort Washington until the 7th of Sep-
tember. Duer did not appear at all. St. Clair,
amid these perplexities, was so much harassed and
goaded by urgent orders from Knox to go for-
ward, that on the 17th he moved out, as Harmar
forewarned him, to almost certain disaster. An-
other month was lost in building forts Hamilton
and Jefferson (the latter six miles south of Green-
ville). The time of the six months’ men began
to expire, and, for want of a commissary, the army
was nearly out of bread. St. Clair was sick, and

246

OHIO.

so crippled by gout that he could not mount his
horse without help, but, with a resolution worthy
of success, pushed on. On the 27th of October a
body of his mutinous militia deserted and went
back, threatening to help themselves to provisions
by plundering the trains in the rear, improvised
by St. Clair. Colonel Hamtramck, with the first
regiment of regulars, St. Clair’s best troops, was
sent in pursuit.

Little Turtle, Harmar’s antagonist, who was
hovering near with a thousand and fifty warriors,
now saw his opportunity. On November 3d, late
in the evening, St. Clair encamped in the woods,
on the banks of a stream which, as he had no
guide, he did not know was the Wabash. In the
night he was encircled by his foe. At dawn on
the 4th, they rushed upon his advanced camp of
militia, scattering them like chaff, and then
stormed his main camp on all sides. After a
hopeless and desperate fight of four hours, eight
hundred men (eight hundred and ninety-four, it
was said) lay dead within a space of ten acres.
The other half fled in confusion.

The horrors of this defeat cannot be depicted,
nor the consternation with which the survivors
filled the country. On the banks of the Ohio it
was felt, literally, that

“ The childe may rue that is unborne ;

The pity, it was the more.’’

There is a plaintive ballad of the time which

ST. CLAIR AND THE INDIAN WAR. 247

long hung on the walls of the log cabins, and
serves not only to show the popular grief, but as
a specimen of the primitive literature of the
West.1

But now, as often happens, it was “darkest just
before day.” The savages, in their exultation
over these repeated triumphs and spoils, little
dreamed that the hour and the man were at hand
to settle their doom. Congress again arose to the
emergency. The regular army was increased to
five thousand men, and means provided for ample
supplies. There was a minority, however, who
protested that the frontier was not worth the sac-
rifice of blood and treasure it was costing.

To appease this feeling, Washington resorted
again to measures for peace-making. Various
embassies were sent out in the summer of 1792.
General Rufus Putnam, assisted by the missionary
Hecke welder, had a friendly reception on the Wa-
bash. But Colonel Hardin, who was sent to the
northwest, and Major Trueman, to Sandusky, with
flags of truce, were assassinated. Fifty chiefs of
the Six Nations were invited down to Philadel-
phia to engage them to make a conciliation with
the western confederacy. Brandt received the
most obsequious attention, as he had at London,
also. The great council of the confederacy held
their meeting about the 1st of October, at Grand
Glaize (Defiance), and were induced by Brandt
and the delegates of the Six Nations to agree
1 See Appendix, No. 3.

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OHIO .

they would meet the President’s commissioners at
the Rapids, “next year when the leaves opened
but with a distinct notification that no boundary
but the Ohio would be admitted.

For this commission Benjamin Lincoln, Beverly
Randolph, and Timothy Pickering were appointed
in March, 1793. But Washington, acting upon
the vote of Congress, had prepared a year before
for the other alternative. In place of St. Clair,
he had appointed Anthony Wayne major-general
of the army, — a soldier whose impetuous valor,
near akin to madness, never failed in any emer-
gency, and whose prestige soon restored hope to
the panic-stricken West. He would not accept
upon the terms which St. Clair had borne. It
was a singular coincidence that he avoided St.
Clair’s mistakes at the Maumee, as well as at
Ticonderoga. He would have no six months’ men.
He required two years for organizing, drilling, and
hardening his men, before they took the field. He
had special conferences with Washington in rela-
tion to the Indian methods of fighting, to deter-
mine the tactics for counteracting their desultory,
Parthian ways, both in battle, camping, and
marching. The result was the formation of the
“ Legion,” a body which, fully completed in its
four sub-legions, required five thousand infantry,
artillery, and cavalry compacted as one body, and
convertible, by quick and simple movements, into
line or square, to meet attack on any side. His
recruiting officers were instructed to enlist none

ST. CLAIR AND THE INDIAN WAR. 249

but Americans, and special drill in the use of the
bayonet and broadsword was enjoined. Stony
Point, it will be remembered, had been stormed
with unloaded muskets.

During the summer twenty-five hundred men
were enlisted and organized at Pittsburgh into
companies of horse, foot, and artillery. During
the next winter they occupied a temporary en-
campment at Legionville, twenty miles below
Pittsburgh, where they were put through more
extended evolutions and drill. In April, 1793,
they descended the Ohio to Cincinnati, where the
infantry and artillery went into camp at u Hob-
son’s choice.” The four companies of cavalry
(sorrels, grays, chestnuts, and bays) were sent over
to a camp in Kentucky, dubbed by the young
troopers with the resounding name of Belleriphon-
tia, where bushwhacking and charging througli
the woods and broken grounds on the Licking
was practiced all the summer.

The converse of all this was taking place on
the Maumee. The commissioners had set out in
May to meet the Indian council. But their mis-
sion was five years too late. The savages had not
only become elated, but were rich in spoils taken
from Harmar and St. Clair. To reach them the
commissioners were under the necessity of accept-
ing the British Governor Simcoe’s hospitalities at
Navy Hall (Niagara), and there waiting, for weeks,
for the British vessel which was to convey them
up the lake. In J uly, Brandt and fifty delegates

250

OHIO.

from the council appeared there, to inquire whether
they had authority to establish a boundary, and to
say that the appearances at Fort Washington
were warlike. Satisfactory assurances were given
on both points; a special express being sent to
the President, to repress any hostile measures by
General Wayne while the treaty was going on.

The commissioners were then taken to the De-
troit River, and lodged at the spacious residence
of Elliott, the assistant of McKee, the chief mis-
chief-makers of the British governors, who were
then in council with the Indians. Here another
deputation came for a more definite answer,
whether the commissioners had authority to fix
the boundary line at the Ohio River, as estab-
lished between the Indians and white people in
1768, at Fort Stanwix. The answer to this very
categorical demand, probably drawn by Mr. Pick-
ering, was an elaborate review of the whole sub-
ject, most able and convincing to white men, but
utterly hollow and hopeless to the Indians. The
deputies promised an answer the next day, and it
was neither peaceful nor flattering. The commis-
sioners were told to go home. Elliott, when the
words were interpreted, said they were wrong.
Simon Girty, the interpreter, insisted he had
given them truly. After explanations they were
withdrawn, and the commissioners requested to
wait until the council should be consulted.

Twelve days elapsed, during which reports were
brought of stormy debates, and that all the nations

ST. CLAIR AND THE INDIAN WAR. 251

but the Shawanees, Wyandots, Miamis, and Dela-
wares (the Ohio tribes) were for peace. But on
the 16th came the answer, signed by sixteen na-
tions, adhering to their position, and concluding
thus : “ Brothers, we shall believe you mean to do
us justice if you agree that the Ohio shall remain
the boundary between us. This is the great point
which we hoped would have been explained be-
fore you left your homes, as our message last fall
was principally directed to obtain that informa-
tion.”

This was the ultimatum defiantly thrown down
by the united confederate tribes ; the alliance, it
will be remembered, which La Salle and Tonti
had set in motion, a hundred and ten years pre-
viously, to repel the Iroquois, who now were
vainly pleading with them to relinquish the terri-
tory then so fiercely asserted by the Iroquois to
be theirs. The commissioners retired, and sent
expresses at once to warn General Wayne, as
well as the President, of their failure.

Whatever doubt there might else have been as
to the complicity of the British government with
the Indians in demanding this boundary, Governor
Simcoe threw off all disguise by proceeding, in
April, 1794, as if in anticipation of Wayne’s ad-
vance, to erect a fort (Miami) at the rapids of
the Maumee, at which three companies of the
24th British Infantry formed the garrison. There
was strong reason for believing that at this time
there was a purpose in the British cabinet to

252

OHIO.

take back the country northwest of the Ohio, to
counterbalance the alleged wrongs of the loyalists
and British creditors under the treaty of 1783.
Lord Dorchester (Guy Carleton), in a speech to
the Indians at Quebec, February 10, 1794, told
them that the United States had broken the
treaty, and he should not be surprised if Great
Britain and the United States were at war that
year. “ If so, a line must be drawn by the war-
riors.”

General Wayne, on hearing from the commis-
sioners, was deeply impressed with the danger
overhanging the frontier, and he took pains that
his men should feel it also. They caught his
spirit and were eager for the fray. In September,
he marched out with the Legion, two thousand six
hundred strong, to a point six miles in advance
of Fort Jefferson, where he halted, ostensibly for
his wagon trains, and for the coming up of a
thousand mounted Kentuckians, but in fact for
a strategy not divulged. He established at this
point a strongly fortified camp (Greenville), and
his real design in halting was to assume a menac-
ing position, and before delivering his blow, school
his men to the woods and swamps. In this
they were constantly exercised. The Kentucky
mounted men were kept in equally active prac-
tice, guarding the supply trains against the daring
attacks between the forts by the Indians. An-
other of Wayne’s vigilant precautions, neglected
by St. Clair, was the employment of the most

ST. CLAIR AND THE INDIAN WAR. 253

expert men on the frontier as spies and scouts or
rangers ; the latter, about forty in number, under
Captain Ephraim Kibby, being on foot, the spies
mounted. The spies were a band of six or seven
of the most daring border men, some of them
brought up among the Indians, and all thoroughly
versed in Indian wiles, as well as the Indian
language. By their feats and hairbreadth es-
capes they became the very paladins of early
Ohio romance, as may be seen in the pages of
McBride and McDonald. McClellan is also im-
mortalized in Washington Irving’s “ Astoria.” Be-
sides scouring the front with these spies and
rangers, General Wayne’s pioneers were cutting
roads in various directions to blind the Indians as
to the route by which he meant to advance ; so
that it was in doubt to the last whether it would
be to the head of the Maumee, to the Rapids, or
the middle course down the Auglaize. From
this tortuous circling the Indians gave him the
name of the Black Snake, but after the battle
changed it to the Big Wind (tornado).

The winter and spring thus wore away. In
December, however, General Wayne had thrown
up a strong stockade fort (Recovery) on St.
Clair’s battle-ground, with a garrison under Cap-
tain Gibson. In June, 1794, as General Wayne
did not move, Little Turtle assaulted this fort
with a large force of Indians, accompanied, as
Wayne believed, by British officers. After two
days’ struggle they were driven off, with a loss so

254

OHIO.

heavy that the Indians long deplored it as their
worst defeat.

On the 28th of July the Legion and two bri-
gades of mounted men from Kentucky, under
General Scott, marched northwest to Fort Re-
covery, thence turning back to Girty’s town, on
the St. Mary’s, where a stockade fort (Adams)
was thrown up in a day. Here Wayne’s plan,
which was to march down the Auglaize, was be-
trayed by a deputy quartermaster (Newman),
who deserted to the Indians. As to this affair
there is an unsolved mystery. It caused a breach
between Wayne and Wilkinson, his second in
command, which, but for the death of the former,
would have become serious. Newman was sub-
sequently captured and put in irons, but released.
Some clue to this may be found in an earnest
entreaty by the Delawares, at the treaty of Green-
ville, that Wayne would spare his life.

During a halt of six days at Grand Glaize, Fort
Defiance was built, and a flag of truce sent to the
Indians, who were concentrated at the Rapids,
with an appeal from Wayne that “ they should
be no longer deceived or led astray by the false
promises of bad men, nor shut their ears to this
last overture for peace.” But that this might
afford no pretext for dallying, he crossed the
Maumee the next day, and going forward met his
flag returning with a shuffling answer. Just be-
low the Rapids, on the morning of August 20,
he encountered the Indian lines, extended nearly

ST. CLAIR AND THE INDIAN WAR. 255

two miles from the bank of the river, behind
thickets of trees prostrated by a tornado, so that
the engagement which followed was called the
battle of the “ Fallen Timbers ; ” the British fort
being about a mile in their rear. His front line
of militia received a hot fire and fell back. The
charge was then sounded. The second and third
lines (the Legion) advanced ; the dragoons on the
right penetrating the fastness by a narrow pas-
sage at the river, and turning, sword in hand,
upon the Indian flank. The front line of the
Legion broke through the brushwood, the Indians
took to flight before the second line, or the
mounted men on the left, came up, and in an
hour were driven more than two miles. The
gates of the fort were mercilessly shut against
them, and they scattered to the woods. The
devastation of houses and farms on both sides of
the Maumee was kept up for two days, McKee’s
residence being destroyed among others. Some
countermarching close to the fort was also ex-
ecuted, to impress Major Campbell with the
danger of his position, but judiciously, perhaps,
for both sides, he resented it no further than by
a note to Wayne, protesting against the indignity
offered to his flag.

So in an hour the pride and power of the In-
dian confederacy and the scheme of re-annexing
the Northwest Territory to the British dominions
were broken. It was every way opportune that
Mr. Jay, at this time, was negotiating with the

256

OHIO.

English Ministry for the treaty of 1795. This
victory secured the surrender of Detroit, the fort
on the Maumee, and all other posts or dependen-
cies within the boundary of 1783.

General Wayne returned to Greenville; first
erecting Fort Wayne at the head of the Maumee.
Here he left a strong garrison under the com-
mand of Colonel Hamtramck; another also at Fort
Defiance ; thus severing the connection of the
Ohio tribes with those of the Northwest, and the
dependence of either upon Detroit.

Simcoe, Brandt, and McKee, it was discovered,
were soon at work again stirring up war by every
art that was possible, either through bribery or
threats. The administrative genius of Wayne
was now as signally shown in detecting and foil-
ing their plots as in his military measures. The
Wyandots were terribly sick. They had lost
twelve out of thirteen of their chiefs who were in
the late battle. Tarhe (the Crane), the surviv-
ing chief at Sandusky, in their - isolation saw no
hope for them in any more risings. Secretly,
through him, General Wayne discovered the new
plot, and found means of offering peace to the
confederate tribes, if they would accept the boun-
dary proposed in the treaty of Fort Harmar.
One by one they acquiesced, and on the 10th of
June, 1795, a grand council of delegates from the
various nations, headed by chiefs and warriors
who never before had met in amity with Ameri-
cans, gathered at Greenville to treat with Wayne,

ST. CLAIR AND THE INDIAN WAR. 257

now appointed commissioner plenipotentiary of
the United States for the occasion.

Little Turtle was at first silent, but listened
with close attention to whatever General Wayne
said. Evidently there was discord or jealousy be-
tween some of the chiefs. At length he opened
his grounds of hostility in a speech of senten-
tious force and eloquence on behalf of the Mi-
amis. He was answered by Wayne bravely and
generously, and his points were so skillfully un-
folded and turned against him as to carry the as-
sembly. Bukongehelas and Blue Jacket, the
Shawanees war chiefs, who also had stood off,
joined with the majority ; Little Turtle was him-
self convinced; and on the 3d of August, 1795,
without a dissent, the treaty of Greenville was
signed by Wayne, and ninety chiefs and delegates
of twelve tribes.

Perpetual peace and amity were declared. The
tribes abjured all other influence and placed
themselves under the protection of the United
States. All prisoners on both sides were re-
stored. In consideration of $20,000 in gifts paid
down, and annuities of $9,500 forever, to be paid
to these tribes in certain proportions, they
yielded to the United States their right to all the
territory south and east of the line, then fixed, and
ever afterwards known as the Indian boundary.
It was not the same, however, as the Fort Harmar
line. Like that, it passed up the Cuyahoga and
across the Tuscarawas portage to the forks of the

258

OHIO.

Tuscarawas, near Fort Laurens (Bolivar), and
then south of west to Loramie’s store ; but there,
instead of turning north to the Maumee, it bore
west by north to Fort Recovery, and thence turned
southwestwardly to the Ohio River, opposite to
the mouth of the Kentucky, or Cuttawa River.
The territory north and west of this boundary was
expressly relinquished to the Indians by the
United States, except a number of specific tracts
which they ceded. The most extensive of these
were the posts of Detroit and Mackinac, and all
lands in the vicinity of each, which the Indians
had granted to the French or English. The
cession at the British fort, near the rapids of the
Maumee, was twelve miles square, besides another
six miles square at the mouth of the river. There
were cessions six miles square also at Loramie’s,
Fort Defiance, Fort Wayne, and on Sandusky
“ lake,” and one of two miles square at the lower
rapids of the Sandusky River.

The treaty was a triumph equal to the battle.
It was the first great assemblage of the Indian na-
tions face to face in council with the “ Thirteen
Fires” ; and when Wayne in his opening speech
held up to them the national emblem of the
eagle, and pointed to the arrows clutched in the
one talon, and then to the olive branch held forth
in the other, the effect was highly impressive.
The dignity and heroic manner with which he
conducted the proceedings throughout were wor-
thy of the great interests at stake. Many of the

ST. CLAIR AND THE INDIAN WAR. 259

war chiefs, as already suggested, had come to the
council sore and haughty, but after a short inter-
course with Wayne, these stern warriors could
not repress a magnetic response to the grip of the
hand, and the soldierly frankness and sympathy
which he showed them. This strong personal
regard so grew upon them that at parting with
General Wayne they assured him that they now
understood the treaty, and were so fully con-
vinced that it was wisely and benevolently calcu-
lated to promote their interest, that it was their
determined purpose to adhere to it. None of the
great chiefs or warriors who signed it took up
arms afterwards against the United States.

A passage or two from the speeches of Little
Turtle may be quoted. As showing the insig-
nificance of the preceding treaties, this extract
from his first utterance is material. Addressing
General Wayne, he said : —

“ You have shown, and we have seen, your powers to
treat with us. I came here for the purpose of hearing
from you. We have heard and considered what you
have said. I suppose it to be your wish that peace
should take place throughout thd world. When we
hear you say so we will be prepared to answer you.
You have told me that the present treaty should be
founded upon that of the Muskingum. I beg leave to
observe to you that that treaty was effected altogether
by the Six Nations, who seduced some of our young
men to attend it, together with a few Chippewas, Wy-
andots, Ottawas, Delawares, and Pattawatomies. I beg

260

OHIO.

leave to tell you that I (the Miamis) am entirely igno-
rant of what was done at that treaty.”

In another speech he gave his celebrated out-
line of the extent of the country of the Mia-
mis : —

“ General Wayne, you have pointed out to us the
boundary line between the Indians and the United
States, but I now take the liberty to inform you that
that line cuts off from the Indians a large portion of
country which has been enjoyed by my forefathers time
immemorial, without molestation or dispute. The
prints of my ancestors’ houses are everywhere to be
seen in this portion. I was a little astonished at hear-
ing you, and my brothers, who are now present, telling
each other what business you had transacted together
heretofore at Muskingum concerning this country. It
is well known by all my brothers present that my fore-
father kindled the first fire at Detroit ; from thence he
extended his lines to the headwaters of the Scioto ;
from thence to its mouth ; from thence down the Ohio
to the mouth of the Wabash, and from thence to Chi-
cago, or Lake Michigan ; at this place I (the Miamis)
first saw my elder brothers, the Shawanees. I have
now informed you of the boundaries of the Miami na-
tion, where the Great Spirit placed my forefather a
long time ago, and charged him not to sell or part with
his lands, but to preserve them for his posterity. This
charge has been handed down to me. I was much sur-
prised to hear my other brothers differed so much from
me on this subject ; for their conduct would lead one to
suppose that the Great Spirit and their forefathers had
not given them the same charge that was given to me,

ST. CLAIR AND THE INDIAN WAR. 261

but on the contrary had directed them to sell their
lands to any white man who wore a hat, as soon as he
should ask it. Now, elder brother, your younger broth-
ers, the Miamis, have pointed out to you their coun-
try”

The battle at the rapids of the Maumee
opened the land for the Ordinance of 1787.
Measured by the forces engaged it was not a
great one, nor was that which had been fought
on the heights of Quebec. But estimated by the
difficulties overcome, and the consequences which
followed, both were momentous. To the bold
spirit of Pitt, Earl of Chatham, it is due presum-
ably that the people of the Mississippi valley are
not to-day Canadian French. Next in honor with
the people of the Northwest, as among their found-
ers, might well be placed the lion-hearted An-
thony Wayne, who opened the “ glorious gates of
the Ohio ” to the tide of civilization, so long
shut off from its hills and valleys.

CHAPTER X.

OHIO BECOMES A STATE.

As the settlers’ guide to the Northwest, the
Ordinance of 1787 has been compared to the
cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. It
might be added that it was by General Wayne, and
the treaty of Greenville, that they were brought
into the promised land. Till then, the Indians
never for a moment relaxed their hold upon the
Ohio, so solemnly pledged to them at Fort Stan-
wix by the king, with the acquiescence of the com-
missioners of Pennsylvania and Virginia. And
never after that treaty, to their honor be it re-
membered, did the Indian nations violate the
limits which it established. It was a grand trib-
ute to General Wayne that no chief or warrior
who gave him the hand at Greenville ever again
“ lifted the hatchet” against the United States.
There were malcontents on the Wabash and
Lake Michigan, who took sides with Tecumseh
and the Prophet in the war of 1812, perhaps for
good cause, but the tribes and their chiefs sat
still.

It was a year or more before the Western people
could believe there was peace. But Indians com-

OHIO BECOMES A STATE.

263

ing across the line to hunt and trade, as the treaty-
allowed, assured them of it. uThe siren song of
peace and agriculture,” in the figure of a Ken-
tucky historian, was heard through the land.
Plowmen and church-goers no longer carried their
rifles. Surveyors might now camp by the fire,
and sleep without hiding away from it, a lux-
ury unknown to hunters and trappers aforetime.
The vocation of the ranger and scout was gone.
After twenty years of this daring life of border
warfare, these men, generally poor and little used
to farming or traffic, beyond the mere bartering
of their peltries, were now to drop into insig-
nificance, or disappear among the newcomers,
with their dexterous arts of land-speculating and
money-getting. Many of them, however, served
with the surveyors and land locators, who now be-
came the important middlemen, and plied the
compass and chain in every quarter. Putnam be-
came the surveyor-general, and under his adminis-
tration nearly all the tract known as the Military
Bounty lands was laid out. On the Miami there
were Ludlow, Cooper, Schenck, and Galloway ;
on the Scioto, Massie and McArthur were chief.
Their name was legion, and when they took the
stand in courts as witnesses, they spoke xas the
oracles. As seen by the map, more than half of
Ohio below the Indian line and east of the Cuya-
hoga was now opened to emigrants and land sales.
In the years 1796-8 a wave of population, farmers,
mechanics, traders, clergy, physicians, and lawyers

264

OHIO.

began to pour in upon the Territory. Emigrants
were now made independent of the land jobbers,
because at the government sales each could se-
lect and purchase his section for himself, at first
hand.

A range of towns thus emerged across the coun-
try north of the early settlements, showing where
the new population gravitated. Earliest were
Dayton and Chillicothe, both laid out in 1796.
The former had been projected the year before,
by Generals Wilkinson, Dayton, and St. Clair,
with Israel Ludlow, but settlement was stopped,
as in other cases, by the failure of Symmes to
complete his title, though the town had actually
been laid out.

Through Daniel C. Cooper, who had been em-
ployed in their surveys, and had obtained pre-
emption rights under the compromise granted by
Congress, the families and settlers from Cincin-
nati, who were in the enterprise, succeeded in
securing their foothold, retaining the name of the
town in compliment to General Dayton.

Earlier in the year Massie had led a party from
his town on the Ohio to the u Station Prairie,”
on the Scioto, above the mouth of Paint Creek.
On this rich and prolific bottom they ploughed
and planted three hundred acres in corn. The
proprietor and his surveyors at the same time
laid out the town of Chillicothe, just above,
stretching across the beautiful valley curving be-
tween the Scioto and Paint Creek. The word

OHIO BECOMES A STATE.

265

seems to have signified in the Indian tongue a
town, and there were several of that name. By
its position on the west bank of the Scioto, at the
heart of the Virginia military district, this soon
became the nucleus of the Virginians, who chiefly
held the lands. Its influence upon the affairs of
the Territory will be seen.

Chillicothe, like Dayton, had been projected a
year earlier. A number of respectable people of
the counties of Mason and Bourbon, in Kentucky,
were disposed to remove, from their dislike of
negro slavery. Among these were the Rev. Robert
W. Finley, Captain Petty, and James Manary.
While moving under an arrangement with Gen-
eral Massie (who afterwards acquired this title),
a party of sixty, in crossing the country from
Limestone to the Scioto, in the spring of 1795*
encountered an Indian encampment on Paint
Creek. The Indians were attacked, and fled.
The whites fell back, but early the next morn-
ing were attacked in turn. They repulsed the
Indians and returned to Kentucky.

Ordinarily this would have passed without no-
tice. It happened, however, that General Wayne
just at the time was anxiously drawing together
the great assemblage at Greenville, and the In-
dians were startled by a suspicion of treachery.
Wayne wrote in great indignation to Governor St.
Clair, reflecting somewhat upon his government,
and was very caustic upon “ Parson Finley ” and
Massie. The worst of it was that this band, sixty

266

OHIO.

or seventy Shawanees under Pucksekaw, one of
the chiefs, started on a raid to the Ohio and
Western Virginia. Wayne succeeded in pacify-
ing the Shawanees at Greenville, and they sent
Blue Jacket in pursuit. Pucksekaw and the ma-
rauders were brought back, in great contrition.
The chief’s apology to Wayne was that he had
been in the woods some months, and was wholly
unacquainted with the good work going on at
Greenville ; but he insisted that his camp at the
Scioto had been robbed when they were peaceably
hunting.

This was the last of the Indian war in Ohio.
The last reported buffalo was killed on the Hock-
hocking in the same year. On the 24th of Oc-
tober, the first public sale of lands by the gov-
ernment was made at Pittsburgh. These were in
the seven ranges, the surveys of the military lands,
extending across the middle of Ohio from the
seven ranges to the Scioto, not being yet com-
pleted. Notwithstanding the attractive offers of
land now opened in the Miami purchase and
Virginia district, the sales in the seven ranges at
Pittsburgh and New York footed up 200,806
acres. This indicates the activity with which
“ movers ” were setting towards the Ohio.

The important event of the year was the evac-
uation of the posts, and final surrender by Eng-
land of Michigan and the Maumee and Sandusky
valleys. By the Jay treaty, this should have
occurred on the 1st of June, but the furious com

OHIO BECOMES A STATE .

267

test over the treaty in Congress delayed it,
though the British authorities and officers were
ready to comply. Colonel Hamtramck and the
United States troops entered Detroit July 11th,
and northwestern Ohio for the first time came
under the flag. General Wayne transferred his
headquarters there in the next month. Governor
St. Clair being absent from the Territory, Colonel
Sargent met General Wayne, as vice-governor.
The county of Wayne, with appropriate courts
and officers, was established, embracing Michigan
and all northwestern Ohio, and all proper meas-
ures were taken for indoctrinating the French in
their new institutions. For a while the effort had
a serio-comic character, but gradually the habitant
acquired all the style and arts of accomplished
republicans.

Governor St. Clair, in 1795, had written to the
secretary, “ There is not a road in the country.”
It would seem that the numerous military expedi-
tions must have left broad tracks between Cincin-
nati and Mad River on one route, and out to the
Maumee on others. The earliest, perhaps, of
“internal improvements” by the United States
was the road for the mail route from Wheeling to
Limestone. For this and the necessary ferries
the President was authorized by Congress in May,
1796, to enter into contract with Ebenezer Zane,
of Wheeling. His compensation was to be three
sections of land on the route: one at the Muskin-
gum, one at the “ Standing Rock ” on the Hock-

268

OHIO.

hocking, and one opposite Chillicothe on the
Scioto. This road, known as “ Zane’s trace,” was
committed by him to his brother Jonathan and
his son-in-law John Mclntire, and consisted at
first of a bridle path, cut through the woods and
winding around the stumps. In a few years cor-
duroy bridges (saplings laid crosswise) were put
in at marshy places. The stately road wagon
then followed, with its teams of four and six
horses, tinkling bells mounted on their collars,
the connecting link for inland commerce between
the packhorse and railway car. After this came
the mail stage ; this road, for forty years, being
the great mail route between Washington and
Kentucky.

At the Muskingum, Zane and Mclntire estab-
lished Zanesville in 1799, and New Lancaster in
1800, at the Hockhocking. This town owed its
name to the thrifty emigrants from the old Penn-
sylvania County, who first settled Fairfield. Many
of the same stock founded the agricultural coun-
ties eastward of Fairfield. Their broad mark of
well tilled farms is to be seen all across the mid-
dle of Ohio, reaching to the rich valley of the
Miamis.

The government of the Territory received a new
accession, in 1797, from the appointment of Cap-
tain William Henry Harrison as secretary, Colo-
nel Sargent being appointed governor of Missis-
sippi Territory. Captain Harrison had been left
in command of Fort Washington by General

OHIO BECOMES A STATE.

269

Wayne, and now resigned his commission in the
army. During this year, also, the counties of
Adams and Jefferson, and in the next year the
county of Ross, were established by the governor.

A census of the Territory, taken in 1798, estab-
lished the fact that there was a population of five
thousand free white male inhabitants, of full age.
It was entitled, therefore, to enter upon the second
stage of government prescribed in the Ordinance.
An election of representatives by counties was
ordered by the governor’s proclamation and
writ, in the proportion of one for every five hun-
dred of the population. This census is not acces-
sible, but we may estimate what it was by the
number of representatives allotted. Washington
County (the Muskingum) had two ; Hamilton
(the Miamis), seven ; Ross (the Scioto), four ;
Adams (Virginia military district), two; Jefferson
(Upper Ohio), one ; Wayne (Detroit), three ; St.
Clair and Randolph (Illinois), and Knox (Indi-
ana), each of them one. New Connecticut, as the
Western Reserve was styled by St. Clair, had no
delegate, and at this time he knew but one man in
the district.

A meeting of the representatives elect at Cin-
cinnati, February 4, 1799, nominated ten persons,
from whom five were appointed by the President
to compose the legislative council. These were
Jacob Burnet and James Findlay of Hamilton
County, Robert Oliver of Washington, David
Vance of Jefferson, and Henry Vanderburgh of

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OHIO.

Knox. The assembly, consisting of the governor
and the two bodies thus chosen, was convened at
Cincinnati, September 23. This transfer of the
seat of government to Cincinnati was made by the
governor, without any formal law on the subject.
He had also adopted a territorial seal, which sub-
sequently aroused some controversy. The device
was apparently a buckeye-tree, as the antiquarians
contended ; the foreground being another tree,
felled and cut into logs. The motto, Meliorem
lapsa locavit , signified literally he “ planted one
better than the fallen.” The device, it was in-
sisted, clearly explained why the appellation of
Buckeyes and the Buckeye State had been given
to Ohio and her people. Cynics, however, who
despised the buckeye, regarded the motto as proof
that it must be an apple-tree.

This first assembly of the Territory is an object
of interest as the beginning of a great fruitage.
Though an improvisation, and containing many
men unacquainted with the forms or technical re-
quirements of legislation, its members were the
strongest and best men of the Territory, thor-
oughly awake to its condition and wants. What
was singular in the political agitation then raging
at the east, party division and influence here
were scarcely perceptible. Several members
were men of a high order of talent, and became
eminent in the councils of the nation and state.
Jacob Burnet of the council was a lawyer of
learning and ability, the chief adviser and sup-

OHIO BECOMES A STATE.

271

port of the territorial administration, and after-
wards a judge of the supreme court of Ohio, and
senator of the United States. His “ Notes of the
Northwest ” is an invaluable historical legacy,
without which St. Clair’s administration and the
early settlement of Ohio would hardly be intelli-
gible. Among the representatives were McMil-
lan and Fearing, able lawyers, who afterwards
represented the Territory in Congress ; Tiffin,
Worthington, and Smith, who became senators in
Congress, the two former governors of Ohio also ;
and Massie and Sibley, leaders in forming the
states of Ohio and Michigan.

Governor St. Clair met the council and repre-
sentatives in joint assembly on the 25th. The
ceremonial equalled an opening of Parliament.
His speech was a clear statement of the condition
of the Territory, and of the objects which would
demand their attention. Separate responses were
made by the two bodies, couched in the most
appropriate form and phrase. To each of these
the governor replied with equal felicity. The
assembly devoted themselves for three months to
the matters brought before them, but as these
were chiefly of temporary concern they need not
be recalled. William Henry Harrison was sent
as delegate to Congress. It is quite noteworthy, in
reference to Mr. Jefferson’s anti-slavery proposi-
tion, that on the fourth day of the session a com-
mittee, to which a petition of officers of the Vir-
ginia line for “ toleration to bring their slaves

272

OHIO.

into the Virginia Military District,” had been re-
ferred, brought in a report that it would be in-
compatible with the Ordinance, and it was unan-
imously adopted. Notwithstanding this decisive
action, another petition was received from Thomas
Posey, and other officers and soldiers of the Vir-
ginia line, urging that persons from states in
which they require that species of property might
be permitted to bring their slaves into the Ter-
ritory with them, under certain restrictions. But
the assembly was inexorable. Bills were passed,
also, by which some of the counties were divided
and new counties created.

At the conclusion of the session, December 19th,
they were again met by the governor, and “ pro-
rogued ” until the next year, with the same for-
mality as at the opening. But he reserved until
this occasion the announcement that he disap-
proved of eight or ten of their bills. Among
them were those relating to new counties. As to
these, besides other reasons for the veto, they
were very plainly told that this was the proper
business of the executive, and not theirs. The
ambiguity in the Ordinance, upon which this
turned, has been pointed out. These measures,
therefore, were shelved for a year, and some of
the members went home sorely aggrieved. So
many persons, in and out of the assembly, were
engaged in laying out towns for county seats,
that the disappointment excited great rankling.
General Massie was doubly defeated, as he had

OHIO BECOMES A STATE.

273

previously attempted to steal a march on the
governor by applying to the Court of Common
Pleas to remove the county seat of Adams to his
town of Manchester.

But all acrimony was hushed for a time in the
universal grief at the death of Washington, which
occurred at the close of the year and of the cen-
tury. To no one was it more afflicting than
Governor St. Clair. At Cincinnati the event was
observed by most solemn funeral honors. The
“Western Spy” of February 5th describes the
scene as one never before witnessed by the people.
A funeral procession of the military companies of
the town and the garrison moved from the fort,
followed by the officiating clergyman, pall-bearers
supporting a bier and coffin ; a horse, representing
that of the deceased hero, with saddle, holsters,
and boots reversed ; Governor St. Clair and the
attorney general as mourners ; the Masonic
brethren, militia officers in uniform, and citizens.
The cortege moved through the streets to the
burial-ground, where the coffin was formally
interred with prayer, Masonic ceremonies, and
musketry. This extraordinary memorial was fin-
ished with a short but most impressive address by
the governor.

The contention which soon ensued went far
deeper than the question as to new counties, or
the arbitrary use of the veto. It resulted in a
discord which was fatal to Governor St. Clair.
The charges and counter-charges of the parties

274

OHIO.

to the quarrel are disclosed in part by Judge
Burnet. The more closely the dispute is exam-
ined, the more nearly will the responsibility, if
not the origin of it, be traced to St. Clair.

He was ardently devoted to General Washing-
ton, and to his administration and successor.
So, in fact, were most of the leading men in the
Territory. The old army influence was strong.
St. Clair made no disguise of his attachment to
the Federal party, as the one most identified with
the Constitution and the Union. He gloried,
therefore, in being a Federalist as contradistin-
guished from those who still pinned their political
faith to the Articles of Confederation, and the
new tenets and vocabulary of French democracy.
Withal, he retained most friendly and social rela-
tions with the leading men of this opposition.
But his confidence and chief correspondence were
with those who supported the administration,
and to this cause he regarded himself as in duty
bound to guide the administration of the North-
west Territory. One with whom he constantly
counseled was James Ross, the distinguished sena-
tor of his own state, by whom, it is just to say, the
interests of the Northwest were always cherished.

In a letter to this gentleman, soon after the
assembly had adjourned, St. Clair wrote that he
had been “ obliged to put a negative upon a good
many of their acts, but that the session had
passed off harmoniously, and their last act had
been a very handsome address to the President ”

OHIO BECOMES A STATE.

275

(Adams). After alluding to matters which
might come before Congress, he recalls a subject
on which they had already conferred, of dividing
the Territory into districts and erecting two gov-
ernments. As to the expense, which Mr. Ross
had suggested as an objection, St. Clair argued
it was nothing compared with the inconveniences
of its becoming a state, “ and if it is not divided,”
he said, “it must become a state very soon.”
Taking Kentucky as an example, he pointed out
the evils which would result. “ All this might be
prevented by the division of the Territory.” To
answer the purpose, however, the division must
be such as to u keep them in a colonial state for
a good many years.” In a letter to the Secretary
of State (Pickering), which he said he had just
sent, he had indicated the proper boundaries, but
now, on reflection, thought it would not answer.
For while it would make the eastern state surely
Federal, “ its population was so thin that the de-
sign would be evident.” He therefore suggested
a line drawn north from the mouth of Eagle
Creek (Brown County) as better, as the western
district, if divided by the Big Miami, must return
to the first stage. The people of Ross County
desired the line of the Big Miami, and he believed
that Colonel Worthington had gone to Philadel-
phia for that object. They looked to a new
state, and as almost all were Democrats they ex-
pected to have the power and influence.

In a subsequent letter to Harrison, February

276

OHIO.

17, 1800, urging the division as “ a thing on which
I have thought a great deal, and have fervently
wished,” he asserted that “ the most eligible
division is by the Scioto, and a line drawn north
from its forks. The eastern division would then
have its seat of government at Marietta. Cincin-
nati would thus continue to be the seat of gov-
ernment of the middle district, and Vincennes
become that of the western.”

These are the earliest disclosures of a design
to divide the Territory, and, as will be seen, were
subversive of the plan fixed in the Ordinance.
Why Colonel Worthington had gone to Philadel-
phia, and whether the people of Ross County
were yet awake to the huge design thus imputed
to them, might appear if Worthington’s papers
were not lost. The notion that he was applying
to a Congress and President of Federalists to
establish a democratic state, wears an air of ideal-
ity and romance of which he was not suspected.
St. Clair’s letter to Pickering had been seen by
Harrison, and made known. This and the other
causes of variance excited an intense animosity
against the governor, particularly in Ross and
Adams counties, in which the Virginia influence
prevailed, and at which St. Clair’s scheme was
chiefly aimed.

Very soon, and in a manner almost accidental,
the question as to a division was brought into
Congress. After a stubborn conflict between
Harrison and his supporters in the House, and

OHIO BECOMES A STATE .

277

the friends of St. Clair in the Senate, an act was
passed in May, 1800, dividing the Territory, by
the Greenville treaty line, from the Ohio np to
Fort Recovery, and thence directly north through
Michigan. All eastward of this boundary contin-
ued to be the Northwest Territory. The country
westward was established as the Indiana Terri-
tory, but in all other respects was governed by
the Ordinance. The act emphasized, as though it
were the point of conflict, that this should in no
wise be construed to affect the original provision
in the Ordinance that the line due north from
the Big Miami River should remain permanently
fixed as the western boundary of the eastern
state, whenever erected. A further provision
that Chillicothe and Vincennes should be the
seats of government of the respective districts,
until otherwise ordered by the legislature of each,
aroused a vehement outcry of St. Clair’s friends,
especially at Cincinnati, as being an infringement
upon the legislative authority vested by the Or-
dinance in the assembly. This was but one of
the shifts to which the governor’s party were
driven. If Congress might divide the Territory,
it was no great stretch of the law to change the
seat of government ; and the less so as it had
never been fixed by law, nor otherwise than at the
governor’s pleasure.

At the opening of the next session of the as-
sembly at Chillicothe, November 5, the embit-
tered relations of the governor and the opposing

278

OHIO.

party were painfully exposed by the terms of
his speech. His term of office, he said in con-
cluding, was soon to expire, and it was uncertain
if he should meet another assembly, as he well
knew that the vilest calumnies and grossest false-
hoods were assiduously circulated. Notwith-
standing the baseness and malevolence of the au-
thors, he could conscientiously declare that no
man could labor for the good of the people of the
Territory more assiduously than he had. No act
of his administration had had any other motive
than to promote their welfare and happiness.
This was assuming the whole point, and did little
to allay the malcontents. In answering the
speech, the council mingled their compliments
to the governor with strong indignation at his
traducers. The representatives were not so effu-
sive.

A joint committee was appointed by the two
bodies to address a gentle remonstrance to his
Excellency as to the exclusive authority which
he asserted of establishing new counties. It was
intimated that the assembly found no reason to
change their views. It was also suggested that
bills not approved might be returned before the
session was closed, so that objections might be
obviated. But the governor remained headstrong
on the county question, and treated the other
suggestion with some disdain. It seemed to re-
gard his action, he said, somewhat in the light of a
mere qualified dissent, whereas by the Ordinance

OHIO BECOMES A STATE.

279

he was a third branch of the assembly, and his
negative as absolute as theirs. But if they should
see proper to apply to Congress for a change of
the law, he would cheerfully unite in it. This
was so much like cavilling as to add to the dis-
affection. To make matters worse, the governor
suddenly put an end to the session on November
9, when the legislature was in the midst of its
business. The ground ostensibly was, that, as
his term of office expired that day, the assembly
could not proceed, the law not authorizing the
secretary, in this emergency, to act as vice-gov-
ernor. The true reason, as alleged, was that the
secretary (Charles W. Byrd) was suspected of
being in sympathy with the opposition. A biog-
rapher of St. Clair describes this as “ an evidence
of political sagacity and courage.” Judge Burnet,
though a strong partisan, admits that “St. Clair’s
best friends were apprehensive that the motive of
excluding the secretary had an improper influence
on his mind.” It was certainly unfortunate, as
he was soon renominated by the President and
confirmed by the Senate.

Under an important amendment, which Cap-
tain Harrison procured during his short service
in Congress for the sale of the military bounty
lands in half sections, the influx of population
grew larger than ever. This law also admitted
of sales upon credit, but in this respect was less
fortunate. Harrison exerted himself also to se-
cure the relief at this time granted to the people

280

OHIO.

who had lost their titles by the failure of his
father-in-law, Judge Symmes. By another act
of grace, in the same year, the holders of
the Connecticut title for the Western Reserve
lands were brought out of tribulation. The
general want of confidence in the title was
retarding the growth of the country. Though
Congress had been tender with Connecticut, as
with all the state pretensions of title to the
western lands, it was felt that the United States
might at any time assert a paramount right. At
the time that Congress was dealing so liberally
with the sufferers in the Miami purchase, a law
to provide for “quieting the title of persons
claiming as grantees or purchasers, under the
State of Connecticut, the tract commonly called
the Western Reserve,” authorized the President
to execute a patent to the governor of Connecti-
cut for their use and benefit, provided that state
should within eight months renounce forever all
claims of territory and jurisdiction westward of
the east line of the state of New York, saving the
claim thus quieted. Connecticut, through Gover-
nor Trumbull, executed the renunciation May 30,
1800, and the President, by patent, conferred the
title of the United States upon all lands in the
Western Reserve. Thus the belt of one degree
and five minutes in width, along the forty-first
parallel clear to the “ South Sea,” forever had
rest.

Governor St. Clair on the 10th of July very

OHIO BECOMES A STATE .

281

appropriately established the entire Reserve as
a county, under the name of Trumbull. In De-
cember he established the counties of Clermont
and Fairfield, and in September, 1801, Belmont,
thus completing the nine counties which formed
the basis of the State of Ohio. The military
bounty lands between the Reserve and the north
line of the Seven Ranges and of the Ohio Com-
pany’s purchase, stretching across from Pennsyl-
vania to the Scioto, brought in a large immigra-
tion of Pennsylvania Germans. A strong ele-
ment of the Scotch-Irish, from the same quarter,
also entered this middle belt, and was gradually
diffused through the state.

The third assembly, or properly the first ses-
sion of the second assembly, met at Chillicothe
November 25th, and with it came the turning
point in the struggle of St. Clair and the Federal-
ists to set aside the plan of the Ordinance for
new states. The assembly was favorable to the
governor, notwithstanding the partial disaffec-
tion. The council remained as it was, except
that Solomon Sibley of Detroit had been ap-
pointed to succeed Vanderburgh, transferred to
Indiana. A few changes had occurred among the
representatives, chiefly among the members from
new counties. Jeremiah Morrow and Francis
Dunlevy, from Hamilton County, were the most
conspicuous. But notwithstanding the total over-
throw of the Federalists in the late elections of
President and Congress, the people of the North-

282

OHIO.

west Territory seem in the main to have been
unmoved. A considerable majority of the rep-
resentatives in the new assembly were either of
that party, or so well inclined to the governor as
to be practically the same.

The assembly met just as the first session of
Congress, under Mr. Jefferson’s administration,
was commencing its session, and in view of its
composition, as all was quiet in the Territory, the
policy of Governor St. Clair and his friends
should have been to keep it so. An unusual
amount of interesting business was in hand. Cin-
cinnati, Chillicothe, and Detroit were incorpo-
rated. The “American Western University ” at
Athens was established. Important instructions
to Mr. Fearing, the delegate in Congress, were
on foot. All at once the affairs of the Territory
were brought to a crisis by two measures. One
was a bill declaring the assent of the Territory
to a change in the boundaries of the states to be
formed under the Ordinance of 1787 ; the other,
to remove the seat of government and fix it at
Cincinnati. In the first of these bills the divi-
sion established by the Ordinance was declared to
be “inconvenient and injurious, as the eastern
state (Ohio) in particular would be too exten-
sive for the purposes of internal government.” It
was proposed, therefore, that the eastern state
should be bounded east by Pennsylvania, and
west by the Scioto River up to the Indian boun-
dary, and thence by a line drawn to the west

OHIO BECOMES A STATE. 283

corner of the Connecticut Reserve, and with it to
the lake ; the middle state to extend along the
Ohio from the Scioto to the falls of the Ohio, and
its western boundary to be a line from there to
the Chicago River ; the western state to occupy
the country between that line and the Missis-
sippi.

This bill was introduced into the council by
Mr. Burnet on the 3d of December, and passed
unanimously the same day. In the other chamber
it met a determined resistance, but was passed
by a vote of twelve representatives against eight.
The bill transferring the seat of government to
Cincinnati was passed with some change of votes,
but by the same majority. Both were approved
by the governor, and a transcript of the former
was immediately transmitted by him to Mr. Fear-
ing, to be presented to Congress.

The indignation at Chillieothe resulted in a
disgraceful mob, which under the leadership of
Baldwin, a popular demagogue and most intem-
perate enemy of the governor, attempted to force
their way into his lodgings, but were driven off
by the bravery of Major Scheiffelein, a member
from Detroit, and others who came to the rescue.
That the insult had no countenance from the
opponents of the governor in the assembly is
made plain by his own statement, twice repeated,
that “ Baldwin was not prevented from it but by
the splendid exertion of Mr. Worthington, who
was obliged to go so far as to threaten him with

284

OHIO .

death.” Worthington was the most earnest and
strenuous, perhaps, of the governor’s opponents.

This movement to disturb the plan of the Or-
dinance and restrict the eastern state to the nar-
row limits between the Scioto and the Pennsyl-
vania line, was so manifestly a blunder as well
as wrong, that it produced a revulsion of feeling
fatal to Governor St. Clair. He denied any cog-
nizance of the bill prior to its introduction, but
unquestionably it bears the marks of his letters
two years before. Among the charges presented
to the President, when his removal was sought,
it was alleged that “ the late effort to alter the
bounds of the states in the Territory originated
with the governor, and has been supported by his
influence in all stages.” Justly or unjustly, he
was held responsible for it, and never recovered
from the storm of obloquy which now fell upon
him. The minority in the House of Assem-
bly entered a protest on the journal. Meetings
to remonstrate were held. A committee of
correspondence was established. Printed peti-
tions and remonstrances to Congress against
the change were sent broadcast through the Ter-
ritory for signatures. Worthington was dis-
patched to Washington with credentials from his
colleagues, and Baldwin sent with him by the
citizens’ committee, to oppose the act passed by
the assembly, which Mr. Fearing on the 20th of
January, 1802, had presented to Congress.

Judge Burnet’s comments on this rupture are

OHIO BECOMES A STATE .

285

the shortest and least communicative in his
“Notes.” “ The friends of the change admitted,”
he said, “ that it would retard the establishment
of a new state, an object of great weight with Mr.
Jefferson’s party. His close election, in the late
contest with Burr, made the vote of another state
desirable. But the assembly argued that the de-
lay would have beneficial tendencies.” What
these were to be, may in part be inferred from St.
Clair’s letters to Ross and Pickering. But the
opposition had not been slow in detecting that
the object was to continue the colonial period, for
party purposes, to the general detriment. Those
in Ross and Adams counties also saw that, while
the new plan might be very well for Marietta and
Cincinnati, it placed the Scioto and Chillicothe
on the outer edge of both districts. Both parties
were alike, perhaps, in their motives, but at this
day no one doubts which was right, on the merits.
It is manifest that the state bounded by the Scioto
would have been a stupendous blunder. The op-
ponents of such a measure had little difficulty in
scoring a double victory, first with Congress and
then with the popular vote.

Worthington quickly discovered at Washington
that the assembly would not only be overruled, but
that the majority in Congress would go further, if
the Territory was ready. His coadjutors and the
committee at Chillicothe were u pleased to hear of
our assuming an independent form of government,
and requested and instructed him to exert his

286

OHIO .

influence with Congress to effect so desirable an
event ; an event which, terminating the influence
of tyranny, will meliorate the circumstances of
thousands by freeing them from the domination
of a despotic chief.” Worthington was instructed
to effect the calling of a convention, and submit it
entirely to Congress to direct the time, place, and
purposes. This was the sort of spirit which St.
Clair, unhappily for himself, had raised in the
Territory.

The House of Representatives in Congress, by
a vote of eighty-one against five, rejected the act
of the assembly, evidence enough how offensive
it was. Dr. Cutler, singularly, was one of the
five for marring the Ordinance. Under the lead
of Mr. Jefferson’s next friends, Messrs. Brecken-
ridge in the Senate and Giles in the House, an
Act of Congress, April 30, 1802, authorized a con-
vention of delegates to be elected in September by
the votes of that part of the Northwest Territory
bounded east by Pennsylvania, south by the Ohio
River, west by a line drawn from the mouth of the
Big Miami River due north to an east and west
line passing through the south extremity of Lake
Michigan, and by this line and the Canada line
through Lake Erie to the west line of Pennsylva-
nia. This, it will be seen, omitted Michigan ; and
as the Federalists were the majority in Michigan,
it was denounced as a political fraud. But the
Ordinance plainly contemplated it.

The convention was required to meet Novem-

OHIO BECOMES A STATE.

287

ber 1st at Chillicothe, and thereupon determine,
first, whether it was expedient to establish a state
government. If decided by a majority to be ex-
pedient, the convention was authorized to proceed
in adopting a constitution and forming a state
government, or it might call another convention
for that purpose. This constitution and form of
government were to be republican, and in con-
formity with the compact of 1787, and the state,
until the next census, was to have one representa-
tive in Congress.

A condition of peculiar form was annexed. If
the convention would provide, in a manner irrevo-
cable except by the consent of Congress, that all
public lands in the new state should be exempt
from all tax for five years after they should be
sold, Congress offered to give it section sixteen in
every township for schools ; also all the reserva-
tions of salt springs ; and, besides all this, one
twentieth of the net proceeds of all sales of public
lands in the state, to be applied by Congress in
making roads between tide- water and the Ohio
River and in the state.

There was a vigorous contest, and some bitter-
ness, between the parties in the Territory, at the
election of delegates ; the issue being state or no
state. The enabling act was denounced as a viola-
tion of the Ordinance. The exclusion of Michigan
was assailed, especially, as unconstitutional and
oppressive. The exemption of the public lands
from tax was derided as a humiliating condition,

288

OHIO.

and an insult to the equality professed to be held
out. These were the points made by the opposi-
tion. How idle they were appears by the Ordi-
nance, which provided against every one of the
objections.

The result of the election was that St. Clair’s
policy was strongly resented by the people of the
Territory. When the convention assembled and
the question was put, thirty-four out of the thirty-
five members voted to proceed at once to form a
constitution and state government; the sole vote
in the negative being that of Ephraim Cutler of
Marietta. Fourteen, however, opposed a motion
that “ Arthur St. Clair, Esq., be permitted to ad-
dress the convention on those points he deems
proper.” The speech was another unhappy mis-
take, for it inveighed against the Act of Congress
before men who had been moving heaven and
earth to bring it about. It was denounced as
“ an interference by Congress in the internal af-
fairs of the country, such as they had neither the
power nor the right to make, not binding on the
people, and in truth a nullity.” With much
more of this contemptuous language, the conven-
tion was called upon to set Congress at defiance.

The address was deemed “ sensible and concili-
ating” by Judge Burnet. The President, to St.
Clair’s misfortune, took a different view of it, and
on the 22d dismissed him from office “ for the dis-
organizing spirit, and tendency of very evil exam-
ple, grossly violating the rules of conduct enjoined

OHIO BECOMES A STATE. 289

by his public station, as displayed in his address
to the convention.”

So ended the public career of Arthur St. Clair.
The rest of his life was embittered by an unre-
lenting persecution, which, not satisfied with his
humiliation, reduced him to stark poverty by
denying him any compensation for money which
he had advanced for the public service in its ut-
most need.

The ingratitude shown by the country was most
unjust. Granting St. Clair’s faults, granting that
he erred grievously as to his powers, and in the
attempt which he made to break the arrangement
for new states so wisely drawn in the Ordinance,
and that on some occasions he was obstinate in
withstanding reason and argument, all this was,
as he himself confessed, due to error of temper
and judgment, and never to a corrupt or dishonor-
able purpose. He sinned like thousands of men
to-day, who take office without being equal to the
duties involved, but he was not an unprincipled
tyrant, as his enemies habitually represented.
He believed conscientiously that he was serving
the interests of the country. By his military train-
ing he had acquired the high spirit which British
officers at that period carried to a fault, so that in
civil affairs in the backwoods his manner seemed
imperious and arrogant. Underneath he bore a
gentle, generous, and brave heart. His fidelity
and devotion to Washington in all the dark in-
trigues and perils of the Revolution proved it.

290

on i o.

But with the pertinacity of his race, which
clings to its opinions, he unfortunately cherished
a conceit that he was learned in the law. Before
committing the mistake which lost him his office,
he had on one occasion withstood an opinion of
the attorney-general. There was a misconcep-
tion on the part of St. Clair and his friends as
to the authority of Congress. It was not so well
settled then as now, that its jurisdiction over the
territories is supreme, as supreme as that of a
state over its counties, if not more so.

On the 29th of November the constitution was
adopted by the unanimous vote of the convention,
and this by the enabling act was final, and did
not require a reference to the popular vote. In
presence of the popular manifestations, both be-
fore and after this vote, it is idle to contend that
the people of the Territory were averse to it.
Worthington was appointed an agent of the state,
with instructions to return to Washington and
secure the measures necessary for consummating
the work which he and his colleagues had so suc-
cessfully begun.

The instrument so adopted, it would be respect-
ful to pass in silence. It was framed by men of
little experience in matters of state, and under
circumstances unfavorable to much forecast.
With such a model of simplicity and strength
before them as the national constitution, which had
just been formed, the wonder is that some of its
ideas were not borrowed. It seems to have been

OB TO BECOMES A STATE.

291

studiously disregarded ; and Ohio, as well as some
states further westward, which her emigrant sons
with filial regard induced to adopt her example,
has suffered ever since from a weak form of gov-
ernment made up in haste, and apparently in
mortal dread of Governor St. Clair. He declined
to be a candidate for the office of governor, but
unluckily not until the convention had adjourned.
In after-years Ohio’s greatest and wittiest gov-
ernor was wont to say, that, after passing the first
week of his administration with nothing to do,
he had taken an inquest of the office, and found
that reprieving criminals and appointing notaries
were the sole “ flowers of the prerogative.”

Briefly stated, it was a government which had
no executive, a half-starved, short-lived judiciary,
and a lop-sided legislature. This department,
overloaded with the appointing power which had
been taken away from the executive, became so
much depraved in the traffic of offices, that, in an
assembly where there was a tie vote between the
Democrats and the Whigs, two “Free Soilers”
held the balance of power, and were permitted to
choose a United States senator, in consideration
of giving their votes, for every other appoint-
ment, to the party which aided them in this su-
preme exploit of jobbery. A new constitution
put an end to this, but the shadow of St. Clair
still predominates.

One occurrence in the convention deserves no-
tice. In the terms for the qualification of voters,

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OH IO-

US at first adopted, the right of suffrage had been
conferred upon negroes and mulattoes. But on a
revision, a motion to strike this out was carried
only by the casting vote of the president, — a
strange prelude to the rigorous u black laws” soon
afterwards adopted by the legislature.

The effect of the enabling act was that the peo-
ple of Ohio, by the adoption of the constitution,
became a body politic. But being without a gov-
ernment they were not yet a state, nor were ’they
yet accepted or admitted into the Union. This
the new constitution itself recognized. It acknowl-
edged expressly that the territorial government
should continue until the new government should
be formed. For this purpose it was ordained that
an election of the governor, members of the legis-
lature, sheriffs and coroners, under the constitu-
tion, should be held January 11, 1803, and that
the legislature should commence its first session
on the 1st of March at Chillicothe, as the capital.

At Washington, the speaker, on December 23,
laid before the House of Representatives a letter
of Thomas Worthington, as “ agent of the conven-
tion of the State of Ohio,” communicating for
the approval of Congress the constitution, and
the consent of the convention, with certain
amendments, to the condition which Congress
had proposed, which papers were referred to a
special committee. Before they reported, a ques-
tion was raised whether Mr. Fearing was any
longer entitled to his seat as delegate for the

OHIO BECOMES A STATE.

293

Territory. On the 31st of January the House de-
cided that he still held his place. Two days af-
terwards resolutions were reported by the special
committee, consenting to certain additional dona-
tions proposed by the convention. This was for-
mulated in a bill, and passed by an Act of Con-
gress, March 3, 1803.

The Senate also had taken up the subject by a
bill introduced January 5, to “ provide for giving
effect to the laws of the United States within the
State of Ohio.” A communication was presented
from Worthington on the 7th, as agent, enclosing
a copy of the state constitution. A committee
was directed to report what legislative measures,
if any, were necessary for admitting the State of
Ohio into the Union, and extending the laws of
the United States over the state. The bill re-
ported by this committee, after reciting that a
constitution and state government had been
formed by the people pursuant to the enabling
act passed by Congress, and that they had given
it the name of the State of Ohio, ordained that it
be established as a judicial district of the United
States ; that a district court be organized, and
hold its term on the first Monday in June, at
Chillicothe ; and that the laws of the United
States should be of the same force and effect in
the said state as elsewhere in the United States.
This bill was passed by Congress February 19.

Here, then, were two acts of Congress recog-
nizing the State of Ohio, but no state yet estab-

294

OHIO .

lished which could accept or act upon them ; and
the constitution expressly recognizing the territo-
rial government as in force until the state govern-
ment should be established. The elections were
held January 11th. The first general assembly
met at Chillicothe on the 1st of March. Upon or-
ganizing and canvassing the votes for governor,
Edward Tiffin was declared to be elected. In the
course of the session Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr.,
Samuel Huntington, and William Sprigg were
appointed judges of the Supreme Court. Thomas
Worthington and John Smith were chosen as
senators to Congress, and an act passed for hold-
ing an election of a representative to Congress,
on June 11th. Jeremiah Morrow was elected.
But Congress had adjourned on the 3d of March,
and the senators and representatives of Ohio were
not actually admitted until the next session.

As there was no formal act of admission by
Congress, much dispute has arisen as to the time
when Ohio was admitted as one of the United
States, the various hypotheses ranging all along
from the date of the enabling act, April 30, 1802,
to the actual seating of her senators and repre-
sentatives in Congress, October 17, 1803. It is
quite clear that the enabling act did not form the
state. It is also certain that the inchoate state
which was framed by the convention was post-
poned, by its express submission to the territorial
government, until the state government could be
formed and set in operation. The earliest day at

OHIO BECOMES A STATE .

295

which this can be said to have occurred was at
the meeting of the legislature on the first day of
March. The law-making power being the reposi-
tory and paramount representative of the power
and sovereignty of the state, the territorial gov-
ernment on that day ceased, and Ohio became a
state in the Union.

This was the view of the question subsequently
adopted by Congress. In March, 1804, Judge
Meigs, for himself and his associates of the terri-
torial court, presented a petition stating that they
had continued to exercise their duties until April
15, 1803, and had applied at the Treasury for pay-
ment of their salaries accordingly. The account-
ing officers, on the advice of the attorney-general,
had refused to allow it beyond November 29,

1802, the day on which the state constitution and
form of government had been adopted. The
judges had thereupon applied to the legislature
of Ohio, and they likewise refused, holding it to
be an obligation of the United States.

After reports by two committees, and a warm
debate and close division in committee of the
whole, an act was passed February 21, 1806, di-
recting the salaries of the Territorial officers to be
allowed and paid at the Treasury until March 1,

1803. This therefore may be deemed an author-
itative decision of the subject.

CHAPTER XI.

THE PIONEERS.

The next thirty years of Ohio life may be
summarized as the long struggle of the pioneers
with the forest and bad roads ; they were literally
getting out of the woods. The first migration of
the traders and hunters was past. The murder-
ous foes of Logan, Cornstalk, and the Moravians
had disappeared. The early settlers who followed
them had, by a sudden revolution, set up a state
and begun a new order of things. Then came an
immigration, attracted not only by rich land and
love of adventure, but by the strong prestige
which the free state, built upon the Ordinance of
1787, had at once acquired. The immigrants
were not merely admirers of free commonwealths
in the abstract, but numbers of them were men
from Kentucky, Virginia, and states further
south, who brought their slaves with them for
emancipation. A reaction followed upon this
movement. The masters, with the best intention,
had unwisely set the freedmen adrift in a wild,
uncultivated country, without fitness or capacity
to provide for themselves. Bad results followed,
and harsh legislation was resorted to as a check.

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297

Laws were passed, not only to restrain the settle-
ment of negroes, but to expel them. Among
other measures, they were made incompetent as
witnesses in any suit, criminal or civil, where a
white person was a party. Violent outbreaks
occurred in which expulsion, under these laws,
was cruelly enforced.

The times were every way hard. The straits
to which the forefathers of the state were re-
duced, in public as well as in private life, are to
be seen in the pictures of their first capitol at
Chillicothe, of hewn logs, two stories in height,
with an imposing front of thirty-six feet on Sec-
ond Street, and twenty-four feet on Walnut. Its
grand feature was fifteen glass windows, each of
twelve panes, eight by ten inches in size, a degree
of splendor thought to be unequalled in the terri-
tory until eclipsed by the Blennerhassets. Here
sat the territorial assemblies in St. Clair’s time.
Its successor, erected by Ross County in 1801 to
accommodate the assembly and the courts, far
surpassed it. This probably was the first public
edifice built of stone northwest of the Ohio. It
was about sixty feet square, surmounted by a bel-
fry and lightning-rod, upon which the American
eagle, with widespread wings, long did duty as
a weathercock. Here the convention which
formed the Constitution of 1802, and the state
legislature, for many years held their sessions.

The millions who are dwelling in peace and
plenty in the broad farms and busy towns of

298

OHIO.

Ohio to-day, can get no realizing sense, from mere
words, of the hardships by which their prosperity
was earned. The toilsome journey, the steep
mountain ways, the camping-out where there
were no inns and hardly a road to guide them,
were as nothing to the dreariness which, at the
journey’s end, confronted the immigrant and his
devoted wife and tender children. The unbroken
forest was all that welcomed them, and the awful
stillness of night had no refrain but the howl of
the wolf or wailing of the whippoorwill. The
nearest neighbor often was miles away.

Their first necessity was to girdle the trees and
grub a few acres for a corn crop and truck patch,
sufficient for a season. As soon as the logs were
cut a cabin was built, with the aid of neighbors.
Necessity invented the “ house-raising,” as it did
the log-rolling and corn-shucking. This habita-
tion, with its clapboard roof, its single room, and
door, if any, swinging upon wooden hinges, with
no window but a patch of greased newspaper be-
tween the logs, and no floor but the ground, was
often finished at nightfall on the spot where the
trees had stood in the morning. The daubing of
the chinks and wooden chimney with clay, and a
few pegs in the interior for the housewife’s dra-
peries, were all that the Eastlake of those days
could add to the primitive log cabin.

But food, rather than shelter, was the severest
want of the pioneers. True, the woods were full
of game, but venison, turkey, and bear-meat all

THE PIONEERS.

299

the time became tiresome enough. There was
no bread nor salt. The scanty salt-springs were
therefore precious. The Indian corn, when once
started, was the chief reliance for man and beast.
The modern Ohioan may know of hominy, but
the art of making hoe-cake, ash-cake, johnny-cake,
the dodger, or a pone, is lost. This crop, convert-
ible also into bacon, pork, and whiskey, soon be-
came the staple of the country. The want of
mills at first led to singular devices. Corn was
parched and ground by hand or by horse-power.
At Marietta an ingenious application of power
was obtained by bracing a mill-wheel between
two boats anchored in the current of the Muskin-
gum,— a powerful mill-race without a dam.

The furniture of the cabins and the dress of the
people necessarily partook of the same absolutely
rustic simplicity. Excellent tables, cupboards,
and benches were made of the poplar and beech
woods. The buckeye furnished not only bowls
and platters for all who had no tin or queensware,
but also the split-bottom chair still in popular
use. Bearskins were bed and bedding. The
deerskin, dressed and undressed, was very much
used for clothing, and the skins of the raccoon
and rabbit formed a favorite head-gear. But
wool and flax soon abounded, and spinning-
wheels and looms became standard articles in
every house. The home-made tow-linen and
woolens, or mixed flannels, linseys and jeans, con-
stituted the chief materials for clothing. For

300

OHIO .

dyestuffs the hulls of the walnut and butternut
and a root of bright yellow first answered, but
were superseded by indigo and madder, which
became almost uniformly the colors of the hunt-
ing-shirt and the warmus. These primitive fash-
ions gradually yielded as store goods, together
with iron and Onondaga salt, began to be intro-
duced, by the great Pennsylvania wagons, from
Pittsburgh and the ports along the Ohio River.
After the purchase of Louisiana considerable im-
ports came from New Orleans by keel-boats.

The pioneers had pastimes and festivities also
in their own way. Besides such gatherings as
those already mentioned, there were the sugar-
camp, the militia musters, the bear hunts, the
shooting matches, and the quarter race. At these
the neighborhood for miles around was wont to
gather. The quilting party also was a thing of
joy in feminine circles. Here the housewife
made a gala day for her friends by collecting
them round her frame to put together one of
those decorative works, a pile of which, to the
pioneer mother, was esteemed of more honor than
all the shawls of her modern granddaughter. A
wedding, among people of the better sort, was
a three days’ festivity. The gathering on the
first day included a variety of the sports above
mentioned, according to taste and circumstances.
Next came the nuptials, the invariable dance, and
the feast. The infare closed the third day with
an escort of the bride to her new home, and the

THE PIONEERS .

301

ride was not unlike that to Canterbury in style.
The house-warming ended with another dance, in
which there was no modern stiffness or dawdle.

Camp-meetings were another early custom, ori-
ginally adopted to supply the want of Sunday
worship. The country store, also, was an impor-
tant centre, especially when the county seats
were distant. There was little money, and busi-
ness was chiefly in barter for peltries, ginseng,
beeswax, and such products as could be trans-
ported by packhorses. Cut money, or “ sharp
shins,” was a curious necessity of the times. For
want of small change, the coins, chiefly Spanish,
were cut into quarters, and so circulated. By a
law of the governor and judges, in 1792, it was
enacted that, as the dollar varied in the several
counties of the Territory, all officers might de-
mand and take their fees in Indian corn, at the
rate of one cent per quart, instead of specie, at
their option. In trading, the deerskin passed
readily for a dollar. The bearskin brought more,
and the peltries variously less. Beaver were rare,
and soon became extinct.

A curiosity of later date, when roads and
wheeled vehicles became practicable, was the
traveling museum. It consisted of three, four, or
more box-cars, mounted on low wheels, and lighted
by windows in the top. These, on arriving at the
show-places, were united, end to end, so as to form
an interior gallery, through which the admiring
spectators passed to enjoy the sights. Shelves

302

OHIO.

and glass cases were filled with objects of every
description, from the bones of the mastodon
down to Dr. Franklin’s veritable penny whistle.
Panoramas of colored engravings were exhibited
through magnifying-glasses, and the whole world
was brought before the eye by the pulling of a
string. The grand attraction was the gallery of
wax figures, among which the most captivating
were the Sleeping Beauty, Daniel Lambert,
Washington on his deathbed, and perhaps the
actors in the latest atrocious murder, all in one
mingled scene.

Schools were an object of the very earliest in-
terest to the settlers of Ohio. The first school
was not the free school, however, for which Con-
gress had set apart the munificent foundation of
one thirty-sixth part of all the lands in the state.
This was to wait until the gift should be ripe for
the purpose. Pride and ignorance, moreover,
were bitterly opposed to the free system. Schools
were sustained for twenty-five years by the par-
ents of the pupils, and though of divers sorts, were
by no means inefficient. Hardly a township or
village was without one. Generally they were of
humble architecture, but had*good teachers. The
mixture of studies would be regarded now as het-
erogeneous. Discipline was of the most rigorous
type. “ Toeing the mark ” was the test of deco-
rum. At the teacher’s desk there was commonly
a straight line drawn or cut on the floor, to which
every one of the class reciting was bound to stand

THE PIONEERS.

303

erect under direful penalties if neglectful. The
pupils were trained also to umake their manners,”
and in those days always gave a bow or curtsy
to the passing traveler on the road. Many of the
men who taught these schools were of superior
education, and the names of some are kept in
grateful memory. One of them deserves more
than a passing mention. This was Francis Glass,
who about the year 1820 kept a school for the
farmers’ children in a remote part of Warren
County. In the midst of this drudgery he con-
ceived and wrote the life of General Washington
in Latin, a volume of two hundred and twenty-
three pages. After his death it was published by
his friend, Prof. J. N. Reynolds, with the approval
of Charles Anthon, Drs. S. B. Wylie, Wilbur
Fiske, and other classical scholars, as not only a
literary curiosity, but, to use Dr. Anthon’s words,
for its easy flow of style, and the graceful turn of
very many of its periods.

Another phase of the times is given by Judge
Burnet in his Reminiscences, where he speaks of
the long journeys made by the judges and law-
yers on horseback through wilderness and swamps
across the Indian country, in the annual rounds
of the courts. They traversed distances of sixty
or eighty miles in these circuits without seeing
the habitation of a white man, carrying blankets
and supplies for their bivouacs, often made in
swamps where the roots of the trees afforded the
only bed. The Indians entertained them always

304

OHIO.

with hospitality. Old Buckongehelas on one
occasion made up a grand ball gan^e on the St.
Mary’s for their diversion. Riding the circuit in
company long continued to be the custom of the
judges and the bar, the lawyers residing in only
a few of the larger towns. If the traditions be
credited, the old court-houses and the wayside
must have echoed with a wonderful mingling of
law and hilarity. Hammond, Ewing, Corwin,
and Hamer all began their practice in this school.

It was not many years before these primeval
conditions began to wear away. In the more fer-
tile and accessible counties the farms and houses,
with their grounds and blooming orchards, their
well-filled barns and herds of cattle, horse, and
swine, gave a new aspect to the country. Man-
sions of greater proportions and elegance were to
be seen here and there, with interiors furnished
with mahogany, mirrors, and all the fittings of
life in the older states. The advance in the ways
of polished society was a grief to McDonald, the
biographer of the pioneers, who “ well remembers
it was in Mrs. Massie’s parlor he first saw tea
handed around for supper, which he then thought
foolish business, and remained of that opinion
still.” The earliest of these stylish mansions was
that of the Blennerhassets, built with a broad
Italian front, at the head of a large island in the
Ohio, near Parkersburg. Dr. Hildreth, in his
“ Lives of the Early Settlers,” has preserved a full
description of this superb establishment, a para-

THE PIONEERS.

305

dise in the wilderness, and its accomplished build-
ers, and shows that Mr. Wirt’s picture was not so
extravagant as has been supposed.

In state affairs the legislature had given evi-
dence of its disenthrallment by establishing eight
new counties at its first session. By the year
1810 the number had been increased to forty-one,
the population of the state, at that time, having
risen to 230,760 in number. More than a third
of the state had been cast into the Indian Terri-
tory. In 1804 the Firelands and all the Reserve
west of the Cuyahoga, together with the military
lands lying between the Reserve and the treaty
line, were purchased from the Indians, and the
proprietors of the Firelands incorporated by the
legislature. Their names fill more than eighteen
pages of the Land Laws of Ohio, where the towns,
and the precise loss of each sufferer, in the raids
of Tryon and Arnold, are recorded for history.
The Connecticut Land Company caused their pur-
chase to be surveyed into townships five miles
square. Six of these, including Cleveland and
Youngstown, were sold. All the rest were sub-
divided among the proprietors by the close of the
year 1809. Still the W estern Reserve did not move.

In 1805 the directors of the Firelands put
them in charge of Taylor Sherman, of Connecti-
cut, as their general agent. His mission was
accomplished by a full survey, allotment, and
partition among the numerous owners, completed
in 1811. Mr. Sherman, however, contributed

806

OHIO.

more than this to the history of Ohio. In 1810
he was followed by his son, Charles R. Sherman,
who had been educated and admitted to the bar
in Connecticut, and was now settled in Lancaster.
In that distinguished home of lawyers he took a
prominent position, and was appointed one of the
judges of the supreme court of the state. He
died in 1827, while on the circuit. In the earlier
volumes of the decisions of that court he has left an
enduring monument of his rank as one of the ablest
lawyers and judges of the state. Among his chil-
dren are General William T. Sherman and Sena-
tor John Sherman. Ohio, therefore, may attribute
to the Firelands, and the misfortunes by which they
were founded, no small share in her promotion.

Another treaty with the Indians, in 1808,
secured a roadway between the Firelands and the
rapids of the Maumee, with land a mile in width
on both sides for settlement ; also a roadway from
Sandusky up to the treaty line. But how little
it was worth is related by Daniel Sherman, who,
in escaping from Huron County to Mansfield at
the Indian outbreak in 1812, did not find a cabin
or clearing in forty miles. The statutes were
prolific of new roads, new counties, and schemes
for developing salt-springs and navigable rivers.
But there was no money to make them.

A far more important measure was the move-
ment by the Ohio senators in Congress for util-
izing the two per cent, fund which had been
pledged to the state for making a road between

THE PIONEERS.

307

the Ohio River and tide-water. The special
committee to which, on Mr. Worthington’s mo-
tion, the subject was referred in 1805, recom-
mended the route by way of Cumberland, which
became the national road. Under an Act of
Congress, March 29, 1806, commissioners were
appointed to lay it out. Wheeling was adopted
as the crossing place on the Ohio, because it was
not only on the direct line to the centres of
Ohio and Indiana, but was safer for connection
with the navigation of the river. Maryland,
Pennsylvania, and Virginia ceded the right of
way, and contracts were made in 1808 for con-
structing a turnpike road, metaled with broken
stone one foot in depth, and nowhere to exceed
a gradient of five degrees. This, it was prom-
ised by Mr. Gallatin, the Secretary of the Treas-
ury, would effect a reduction in freight of one
dollar per hundred on all the produce of the
West, and its returns from the East. As this
would be a gain of two dollars upon every barrel
of flour and pork, it will be seen how vitally
interesting it was to the people of Ohio. Their
crops were profitless. Except on the Ohio and
the rivers running to it, there was no outlet for
the immense production of which the state was
becoming capable. Every year, at the spring
freshets, quantities of flour, bacon, pork, whiskey,
and the fruits of the country adjacent to the
streams were taken in flatboats to New Orleans
and the intermediate markets. This would have

308

OHIO.

been a most profitable commerce but for the
extreme hazards to which these frail and unman-
ageable craft were subject. The starting of these
fleets annually was a spectacle of great interest at
the towns on the Muskingum, Scioto, and the
Miami. Keel-boats, built in the fashion of canal-
boats, but lighter and sharper, were also used
with profit, as by great labor they could stem the
current of the Mississippi, and the cargoes which
they brought back were the earliest considerable
imports of foreign goods. Numbers of sea-going
vessels were built on the Ohio River, and
freighted with produce to the West Indies or
Europe. Marietta alone is reported to have sent
to sea, before the war of 1812, seven ships, eleven
brigs, six schooners, and two gunboats. The
entire commerce of Lake Erie, prior to this time,
was carried on by half a dozen little schooners.

Besides their land-locked isolation, the pio-
neers, in clearing the forest and turning up the
rich mould of their cornfields, encountered a far
more desolating adversity in the ague, and vio-
lent biliary diseases, with which the soil was in-
fected. Another strange pestilence, known as
the milk sickness, was rife in certain parts of the
state, supposed to be caused by some mysterious
vegetable eaten by the cows in the natural
meadows or prairie. But with all their draw-
backs and early disappointments, the settlers
manfully worked, and waited for the good time
coming, and enjoyed freedom, peace, and plenty.

THE PIONEERS.

309

The earliest events which disturbed this life
of Arcadian placidity were the Burr Conspiracy,
and the war in 1812 between the United States
and Great Britain. The former was but a bug-
bear, sprung upon the Western people by Mr.
Jefferson’s proclamation, November 27, 1806.

The terror excited by this hazy enterprise be-
came ludicrous when its actual proportions were
known. Mr. Jefferson was probably misled by
General Wilkinson, the Belial and arch mischief-
maker of his time, and somewhat also by Colonel
Joseph Hamilton Daviess, who seems to have
beheld the -ghost of the old Spanish conspir-
acy stalking abroad. Meade, the acting governor
of Mississippi, had been somewhat terrified, but
he pricked the bubble by arresting Burr, January
17, 1807, and reporting to Mr. Jefferson, “ This
mighty alarm, with all its exaggerations, has
eventuated in nine boats and one hundred men,
and the majority of these boys or young men
just from school.” The trial, however, ran
through six months, preponderating, as Chief Jus-
tice Marshall thought, in favor of the opinion that
Burr’s design was really against Mexico. He
was therefore acquitted of the charge of treason,
though Mr. John Quincy Adams, in reporting
upon the expulsion of the Ohio senator, John
Smith, as an accomplice, persuaded the Senate
that it was a “ crime before which ordinary
treason whitens, and of which war was the mild-
est feature.”

310

OHIO.

Since Blennerhasset’s Island, where the scheme
of this frightful crime was unmasked, was in Vir-
ginia, it may be wondered how Ohio became in-
volved. Burr had but touched at Blennerhas-
set’s, when he went out and returned, in his first
sweeping tour in 1805, but as Blennerhasset was
absent on both occasions, he made no stay. At
Cincinnati he received an ovation. About the
1st of September in the following year he spent
two days at Blennerhasset’s. Then, in crossing
Ohio to Kentucky, he stopped at Chillicothe. As
was the custom in the hospitality of those days,
he went uninvited to the residence of a gentle-
man near there, with whom he had been asso-
ciated in public life at Washington. The host
was absent, but Burr was politely entertained by
his wife and family, and amused himself with the
garden and flowers. He alluded also to his bril-
liant scheme at the South. The hostess was a
most skillful florist, and in after-days was wont
to say she had derived much of it from his in-
structions. After waiting two days, Burr took
his departure for Kentucky. To a playful re-
mark of his hostess as to seeing more of Ohio, he
replied, “ No, madam, no ; the Ohio people are
too plodding for my purpose.”

This seems to have been all of his campaign in
Ohio. But Blennerhasset had been busy at Mari-
etta, building boats, recruiting volunteers, and
engaging supplies for an expedition or colony on
the Wachita River in Louisiana. In all this,

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311

nothing amiss was suspected by the authorities or
the people. But unluckily for Blennerhasset, he
dined about this time with the Hendersons on the
Virginia shore, and after dinner indulged in some
bombast concerning Colonel Burr’s brilliant tal-
ents and prospects, which alarmed those gentle-
men excessively. They reported it to a Mr. John
Graham, who was looking about, as a “ confi-
dential agent,” for the President. He had several
interviews with Blennerhasset at Marietta, in
which the latter explicitly avowed that colonizing
the Bastrop or Wachita lands was the object, and
that the expedition was to be a strong one, and
well armed, whether for Indians, Spanish, or
game. Graham informed Blennerhasset of his
mission and instructions. He objected to the
force, and to the armed character of the plan.
Blennerhasset insisted that he had a right to
carry out his plans, and that the government had
no authority to interfere. This intercourse con-
tinued in a friendly way for some days, but sud-
denly, after an interview of Graham with the
Hendersons, it was dropped. The confidential
agent hastened to Chillicothe, where the legisla-
ture had just assembled. Upon information and
affidavits presented by him to the governor, the
legislature hastily passed a law, December 6th,
to prevent acts “ hostile to the peace and tranquil-
lity of the United States within the jurisdiction
of Ohio,” and appropriating one thousand dollars
to enforce the provisions of the act.

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OHIO.

Governor Tiffin issued a proclamation of warn-
ing, and called out the sheriffs and militia along
the Ohio. Under warrants issued to the sheriff
at Marietta, General Buel forthwith seized Blen-
nerhasset’s ten boats laden with a hundred bar-
rels of corn-meal. Blennerhasset himself would
have been arrested but for the opportune arrival
of Tyler and Smith, two of his adjutants, with
thirty men from the Beaver. Graham’s remon-
strance, and this sudden expression of public feel-
ing, half determined him to abandon the expedi-
tion. Mrs. Blennerhasset appears to have rallied
his courage, and at midnight, December 10th,
hastily packing up a few necessaries, he fled, in
the boats of Tyler and Smith, with a force of
thirty-one men, armed with five rifles, three or
four pairs of pistols, one blunderbus one fusee,
and a keg of powder. At the moment of embark-
ing there was a question how he should avoid
arrest at Gallipolis, and a plan was formed for
sending horses to enable him to pass around that
place. Mrs. Blennerhasset, who had accompanied
him to the boats, again interfered, and sent a
canoe to take her husband ahead of the fleet. He
and his party eluded the officers at all points and
escaped. He never again saw his beautiful home.
In the winter of 1811-12 the mansion was totally
destroyed by fire.

A little episode followed, which must conclude
the story of Blennerhasset’s folly and misfortune.
Mrs. Blennerhasset, as has been seen, had been left

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313

behind with her children. His flight was taken
as a clear proof of guilt. The militia of Wood
County, Virginia, took possession of the house and
island, purveying for themselves by shooting the
cattle, consuming the supplies, and burning the
fences for firewood, regardless of the woman or her
wants. Their colonel, it should be said, stopped
this vandalism as soon as informed of it. In the
midst of the ravages, Messrs. William Robinson
and Morgan Neville, young travelers from Pitts-
burgh who were descending the Ohio in a com-
fortably fitted flatboat, stopped at the island.
They found Mrs. Blennerhasset bewildered, and
the militia insolent. The travelers, suspected of
having a part in the conspiracy, were arrested by
the militia and brought before two magistrates at
Marietta for examination. They were so frank
and manly, however, in their explanations and
professions of mere regard for the unhappy lady,
that they were discharged. A night or two after-
wards their boat quietly dropped down to a gar-
den gate, where Mrs. Blennerhasset and her chil-
dren, by a private arrangement, were in waiting.
They were found by the gallant young deliverers,
and safely transferred to the cabin of the boat.
Thus she parted from the fairy isle.

A violent commotion in the state politics was
excited for three or four years by a wrangle of
the legislature with the courts. Justices of the
peace had been granted jurisdiction to try suits,
for any amount not exceeding fifty dollars, with-

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OHIO .

out a jury. This the judges of the Common
Pleas decided, much to the indignation of the law-
makers, was a violation of the right of trial by
jury, secured by the Constitution of the United
States, in any controversy exceeding twenty dol-
lars in value. The decision was sustained by the
Supreme Court. The judges were, however, im-
peached, and some who were arraigned narrowly
escaped conviction. But a new assembly was
elected in 1809, and though the majority were of
the indignant party, they could not count upon the
requisite two thirds in the Senate. Resort was
had, therefore, to a more efficacious course. The
term of office was seven years, and the term of
seven years since the state constitution went into
operation was just expiring. Most of the judges
had been chosen much later, either as new ap-
pointments or to fill vacancies. It was resolved
by the majority in both branches of the assembly
that their terms of office must all be limited by
the original term of those who had been first ap-
pointed. The three supreme judges, three presi-
dent judges of the Common Pleas, all the asso-
ciate judges of that court, more than a hundred in
number, and all the justices of the peace, were
discharged at a swoop. This radical measure was
well named the “ Sweeping Resolution.”

As part of the contention, the seat of govern-
ment was transferred at the same session from
Chillicothe to Zanesville. Commissioners were ap-
pointed to report, at the next session, the “ most

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315

eligible and central spot for permanently estab-
lishing it.” Their selection was Dublin, a village
on the Scioto, some fourteen miles above Colum-
bus, but this was overruled by the assembly. By
an act passed February 14, 1812, a proposal was
accepted by which the owners of the “ high bank
on the east side of the Scioto River, opposite the
town of Franklinton,” then a dense forest, bound
themselves to lay off a town ; present a square of
ten acres to the state, upon which they were to
erect a state-house, and public offices such as the
assembly should require ; and furthermore, give
twenty acres of land to the state for a penitentiary,
and erect a suitable building. By another act the
name of Columbus was conferred upon the town,
and it was ordained to become the seat of govern-
ment of the state on the first Monday of December
in the year 1817, but subsequently made a year
earlier. The seat of government meanwhile was
restored to Chillicothe.

The proximity of the new capital to the Indian
boundary indicates the confidence reposed in the
Wyandots, who were dwelling just above on the
Sandusky Plains. The right of free hunting and
passage, which General Wayne gave to the In-
dians in the lands they ceded, so long as they
were peaceable and orderly, had not been abused.
They wandered where they pleased, and com-
mitted no disorder when not betrayed by white
men with whiskey. The chiefs in their visits
were always entertained socially with much dis-

316

OHIO.

tinction. Tecumseh, though not yet celebrated,
was acquiring importance by the wide-extended,
covert movements which it was observed he was
making. He visited Chillicothe in 1807 on busi-
ness not generally known. In company with Blue
Jacket and a party of warriors he was invited to
supper by a gentleman concerned in it. They
took their places at the table with perfect pro-
priety, the mistress of the house presiding, and
dispensing her luxuries among them. Suddenly,
however, there was a disturbance, and two or
three of the younger braves leaped up with angry
mutterings, as though bent on mischief. Tecum-
seh at the moment was in close conversation
with his entertainer, but quickly observing the
alarm of the ladies, he arose, drew himself up, and
with an expressive glance and a stamp of the foot
brought things to order. It was discovered that
one of the young bucks, accidentally, had not
been served with coffee, and felt himself insulted.

It soon became manifest that mischief was
brewing among the Indians on the border of Indi-
ana, and that Tecumseh was in it. He was not a
chief and had no place in the Shawanees council.
The object which he and his wily brother Els-
quatawa the Prophet had in view was, to break
the power of the chiefs, in their own and all the
tribes, whom they suspected of sacrificing the
Indian territory and hunting-grounds, in treaties
with Governor Harrison, for their own benefit.
They withdrew to Greenville, and gathered into

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317

this Adullam the discontented and disorderly
warriors of all the tribes. Here the Prophet,
around whom this part of the plot centered, set
up a religious order for the reform of the Indians
as he professed, by mysterious meetings and cere-
monies, to which none were admitted but the
initiated. Tecumseh was moving in every direc-
tion, urging the hostile elements to combine, in
another grand struggle like that of Pontiac and
the Northwestern confederates, to drive the whites
across the Ohio. Atwater met him among the
Onondagas in 1809, and, as interpreter of his
speech, told them he had “ visited the Florida
Indians, and Indians so far north that snow cov-
ered the ground at midsummer.”

The scheme, as usual, was attributed to British
intrigues and influence, though it is well known
that the governor of Canada, and the British
minister at Washington, gave early warning to
the United States in 1810 that the Northwestern
Indians were meditating war. Governor Harri-
son, unfortunately, entertained this prejudice,
without being conscious that he was himself the
perficient cause of the hatred which drove Te-
cumseh and his forces in 1812 into the British
alliance.

At this moment when the state, with a quarter
million of people, an exuberant soil, a dozen
considerable towns, and the prospect of another
British and Indian war overhanging it, lay, like
a young giant, bound hand and foot, occurred the

318

OHIO.

signal event which was to give the Mississippi
valley an impetus to an illimitable growth.
This was the launching and departure from Pitts-
burgh, in October, 1811, of the steamboat Or-
leans, first of the mighty fleet which put the
currents of the great river to naught. On this
voyage Mr. Roosevelt, who had superintended
the construction for Messrs. Fulton and Livings-
ton, with his young wife and children, Andrew,
Jack, the pilot, Baker, the engineer, and six
hands, besides domestics, constituted the sole
freight. The novel appearance of the craft, and
the speed with which it passed through the long
reaches of the Ohio, excited wonder and terror
among the riparians. Few of them had heard of
steamboats. Some supposed the comet, then
near, had fallen into the river. War with Eng-
land being expected, one little town was alarmed
with the cry, “ British are coming ! ” and took to
the hills. The Orleans being prevented by low
water from passing the falls at Louisville, was
employed between that place and Cincinnati
during this detention. On the Mississippi she
incurred much peril from the effect of the ex-
traordinary earthquakes which continued from
December until February. She reached her desti-
nation December 24th, but neither the Orleans,
nor the two steamers from Pittsburgh which
followed her in 1813 and 1814, returned to the
Ohio. The first which accomplished this was the
Enterprise, of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, under

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319

the command of Henry M. Shreve. In Decem-
ber, 1814, he took a cargo of ordnance stores to
General Jackson in fourteen days from Pittsburgh.
After serving that officer until May, Captain
Shreve set out for Pittsburgh, and in twenty-five
days arrived at Louisville. For this wonderful
feat the people of the town honored him with a
public dinner.

Commerce, though still suffering a check east-
wardly, now shed some of its genial influence
over the valley of the Ohio. The lake shore,
and the northwest portion of the state, remained
inaccessible. It was not until August, in the
year 1818, that the first steamer on Lake Erie,
the Walk-in-the- Water, made her appearance,
having been built at Black Rock, within a few
miles of the spot where the Griffin was launched
in 1679. New York as early as 1811 had been
agitated with the grand design of connecting
Lake Erie with the Hudson. In response to her
call, the legislature of Ohio, in January, 1812,
had heartily resolved that the cost of such a
work should be assumed by the United States.
Poverty, and not her will, was at fault.

CHAPTER XII.

WAR AND DEBT.

In the year 1812 Ohio was called to her first
essay in war, which, though disastrous and bloody,
was without dishonor to the state. It is un-
necessary to enter into the causes for which the
war against Great Britain was declared by the
United States. It was a total surprise to the
British Cabinet and to the authorities in Canada.
Ohio, for her part, was ready, but terribly han-
dicapped. Mr. Madison’s feeble administration
had for its war minister Dr. Eustis of Massachu-
setts, and for its territorial governor at the North-
west, William Hull, of the same state. This
superannuated relic of the Revolutionary army
unhappily found favor in the eyes of the Secre-
tary, and, without a single qualification for the
command of an army, was appointed a brigadier-
general and commander of the Western depart-
ment. The nomination was resisted in the Sen-
ate as unfit, but sentiment prevailed. The Ohio
senators, unpatriotically it was thought, had
voted against the war; professedly for want of
preparation, but more, perhaps, under apprehen-
sion of danger from the mistake.

WAR AND DEBT.

821

Governor Meigs, under precautionary instruc-
tions from Washington, had in April called for
twelve hundred volunteers. In May, a larger
number assembled at Dayton, and were organized
into three regiments : the first, from the Scioto
valley, under Duncan McArthur as colonel, and
James Denny and William Trimble as majors ;
the second, from the Miami valleys, under James
Findlay as colonel, and Thomas Moore and
Thomas Van Horne as majors ; the third, from
the Muskingum and eastern Ohio, supplemented
by companies from the Miami and Scioto, com-
manded by Lewis Cass as colonel, and Robert
Morrison and Jeremiah Monson as majors.

They were mustered into the United States
service under General Hull, in the latter part of
May, and marched to Urbana. Here they were
joined by the 4th U. S. Infantry, under Lieuten-
ant-Colonel James Miller, — veterans who had
fought at Tippecanoe, and who afterwards, under
this gallant commander, charged the British bat-
teries at Lundy’s Lane. This gave General* Hull
a force of nineteen hundred and fifty troops.

War was not declared until June 18, at which
time General Hull was supposed at Washington to
have arrived at Detroit. He had, in fact, moved
but a few days before from Urbana, and arrived
at the rapids of the Maumee on the last of the
month. The march of ninety-two miles, under-
taken by raw troops and with wagon trains
that were forced to make their own road through

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OHIO .

the worst swamps in the state, was effective
work, though Hull, in his subsequent defense,
reproached his men as undisciplined and insub-
ordinate. Besides this work, two stockades had
been erected at the crossing of the Scioto and of
Blanchard’s Fork ; the former known as Fort
McArthur (Kenton), and the latter Fort Find-
lay.

At the Maumee, Hull’s military incapacity
began to show itself. Finding a small schooner,
just arrived from Detroit, he transferred to it the
sick, and stores and baggage of the army, sending
with his own baggage all his military papers;
this, too, although warned by letters received at
Fort Findlay that the declaration of war was
imminent. The vessel was captured the next
day opposite Malden by a British gun-brig, the
Hunter, and Hull’s papers were forwarded imme-
diately to General Brock, the governor and mili-
tary commander of Upper Canada, then on the
Niagara. All his instructions, plans, and army
rolls were thus betrayed to the enemy by an in-
conceivable stupidity which in popular opinion
argued nothing less than treason. The proceed-
ing was attributed by General Hull, at his trial,
wholly to the neglect of the Secretary of War to
give him warning. This brought out the fact
that on the morning of June 18, in anticipation
of the vote by Congress that day, the secretary
had written to General Hull to put him on his
guard, and in the evening had dispatched an

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323

express with official notice of their act. The letter
failed to reach him, and the despatch was not re-
ceived until July 3, two days after he had passed
the Maumee.

This loss of a week contrasted most unfavor-
ably with the vigilance and alertness of the
enemy. Intelligence of the declaration of war
by Congress reached New York on the 20th.
The agents there of the Northwest Fur Company
sent expresses immediately to their heads at Mon-
treal and Fort George (mouth of the Niagara).
Thus on the 25th the news was known to Gen-
eral Prevost, commander-in-chief at Montreal,
and to General Brock at Fort George. By the
same vigorous agency Brock transmitted the
intelligence to Lieutenant-Colonel St. George,
commanding the fort at Malden, and sent orders
at once to Roberts, the captain of his little gar-
rison at Sault Ste. Marie, to gather all possible
forces, and capture the United States post at
Mackinac. All Canada had been aroused before
Hull had passed the Maumee.

The army arrived in Detroit July 5, and Gen-
eral Hull could have passed the river that day.
Lieutenant-Colonel St. George seemed equally
inefficient, but his force was only two hundred
men. General Hull was urged by his colonels to
cross immediately, but affected to have no author-
ity, and felt much more at ease in his fort, fully
armed with heavy guns, and having complete
command of the river and opposite shore. A

324

OHIO.

further despatch from the Secretary arrived on the
9th, authorizing him to commence offensive oper-
ations, take Malden, and extend his conquests,
“ should his force be equal to the enterprise.”
He could no longer resist the urgency of the col-
onels, and with most of his force crossed the river
July 12; but seizing upon the concluding words
of the despatch as a pretext, he encamped at
Sandwich, two miles below, and there sat for four
weeks without striking a blow. The excuse for
stopping was that siege-guns must be remounted
and floating batteries constructed before Malden
could be assaulted.

McArthur and Cass being the most impatient,
the former, with Denny’s battalion of his regi-
ment, was detached about the 15th to capture a
depot of military supplies at McGregor’s Mills,
on the river Thames. This march of sixty miles
and back, through the most thickly populated dis-
trict in Upper Canada, was accomplished in three
days and nights, without the loss of a man, and
with the capture of a stock of provisions which
would have taken the army through to the Niag-
ara River. Cass and his regiment, Colonel Miller
accompanying as a volunteer, marched on the 16th
to the river Aux Canards, three miles from Mal-
den, but was instructed by Hull, as he persist-
ently claimed, merely to reconnoitre. Finding
the bridge guarded, Cass crossed at a ford further
up, and came upon the outpost at the bridge so
suddenly that they fled, and he pursued them to

WAR AND DEBT.

325

within gunshot of Malden. Cass wrote to Hull
for authority to follow up his advantage. Hull
was indignant, but upon receiving a further mes-
sage, probably indorsed by Miller, he left the ad-
vance guard to their own discretion, but sent no
reinforcement.

These circumstances show the impotency of an
army without a general. It is mortifying to re-
verse the picture and witness the triumph of a
general who was without an army. Hull’s large
force and early advance had taken the British
generals by surprise. Still greater was their
chagrin that St. George had suffered the invasion
at Sandwich without firing a shot. But General
Brock, though young, proved to be as herculean
in courage and character as he was in person.
His small force of regular troops was already
confronting a threatened invasion on the Niagara
and Lake Ontario. He sent orders instantly to
Captain Roberts, at Sault Ste. Marie, to attack
Mackinac, and dispatched Colonel Proctor with
a hundred of the 49th Regiment to Malden. He
feared it was too late, supposing that Hull would
at once advance and sweep Upper Canada. But
he did not pause or hesitate an instant in sum-
moning every means of resistance. He called a
meeting of the provincial assembly. He appealed
to Prevost for a few companies of regulars, but
they were not to be had. He called out the mili-
tia of his province. He was alarmed at finding
that numbers were disaffected, and more inclined

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OHIO.

to join Hull than himself. He summoned the
Mohawks on# Grand River to send him their war-
riors. To his amazement they sent back a mes-
sage that they were neutral. This unexpected
intelligence, he wrote to Prevost, “ has ruined
the whole of my plans, as the militia will now be
alarmed and unwilling to leave their families.”
He met his provincial assembly July 27th at
York (Toronto), and called upon them to vote
supplies and martial law. But the majority were
disinclined to hostile measures. For ten days
General Brock was alternating between them and
his troops protecting the Niagara line, inciting the
courage of both.

He brought his indefatigable exertions to a
crisis, August 6th, by adjourning the assembly,
proclaiming martial law upon his own responsibil-
ity, and setting out for Long Point, where he had
ordered his little force to concentrate. This force
consisted of a few regular troops and three hun-
dred Canadian militia. With these he embarked
on the 8th in farmers’ boats collected from the
neighborhood, and coasting two hundred miles
along the lake shore, through rain and stormy
weather, arrived at Malden at midnight on the
13th, and on Sunday the 16th he had Hull and
his army, Detroit and its fort with thirty heavy
guns, and the whole frontier of Ohio and Indiana,
captive and prostrate before him. Mackinac and
Chicago also had fallen, and the savages of the
Northwest, now set loose, came trooping to his
standard.

WAR AND DEBT .

327

To take suck risks with such disparity of forces
would have been simply reckless but for the quick
and daring inspiration which prompted the action.
Brock’s decision to cross the river was made on
discovering that Tecumseh and his Indians al-
ready held the opposite shore, and had had three
desperate conflicts with detachments sent out
by Hull to restore his communications with the
Maumee.

At sunrise on the 16th he had taken a strong
position five miles below Detroit, with three hun-
dred and thirty regulars and four hundred militia,
filling the woods on his left and rear with some
hundreds of Indians. His bold and sudden ad-
vance upon the fort, the critical stroke in this
achievement, was conceived only at the moment
of landing, when he heard that McArthur, of
whom he had a high opinion, was absent, having
been detached with five hundred men by a back
road to the Maumee. He decided at once to
attack, and when within a mile of the fort his
inspiration was crowned by the appearance of the
white flag of surrender. Hull’s four regiments,
under such a general, would have swept the Ni-
agara frontier. His pretext that the enemy con-
trolled the lake was simply futile. It was enough
for him that with the fort at Detroit he held com-
plete command of the river, and thus had an open
door to Canada.

But General Hull was prostrated by terror of
the savages. For cowardice, and not for treason,

328

OHIO.

as sometimes insisted, he was sentenced by a
court-martial to be shot, but on the recommen-
dation of the court was pardoned, in mercy for
his age and his good conduct in the old war. His
main defense was that he had been victimized by
an armistice arranged by Generals Prevost and
Dearborn on the Niagara and St. Lawrence, but
not extending to the Western army. He therefore
had been sacrificed in the interest of the Eastern
generals by a measure which enabled the enemy
to concentrate their strength upon Detroit.

This ingenious fiction was so plausibly urged,
that, although it was .rejected by the court, it is
adhered to by many writers. But the judgment
of the court has been fully sustained by the dis-
closures in the “ Life and Letters of General
Brock,” published in 1846. It appears that the
armistice was arranged after General Hull’s
capitulation, and that General Brock was not
aware of it until his return to the Niagara.
Flushed with success, he had hastened back for
the purpose of striking a similar blow at Sackett’s
Harbor. Well for Ohio that it was so. Had
General Brock descended upon the Maumee and
the Wabash with such a horde of savages as would
have attended him, it would be difficult to reckon
the consequences.

As it was, the state was panic-stricken. Brave
men trembled for the tearful women and children
who now clung around them. Even the sick
staggered from their beds to escape the appre-

WAR AND DEBT.

329

hended carnage. The Ohio regiments, sent home
by Brock on parole, landed their boats near the
Huron River, and being taken for the enemy the
inhabitants of the Reserve fled en masse . The
suspense for a time was dreadful. Governor
Meigs called out several brigades of the militia,
and fields and crops had to be abandoned. An
eye-witness described the country as “ depopulated
of men, and the farmer women, weak and sickly
as they often were, and surrounded by their help-
less little children, were obliged, for want of
bread, to till their fields, until frequently they fell
exhausted and dying under the toil to which
they were unequal. The horrors and fearful suf-
ferings of the first year of the war can never be
forgotten by the people of that generation.”

Most fortunately, Governor Scott of Kentucky
had raised three regiments of volunteers on the
first report of Hull’s dereliction, and with equal
sagacity had appointed Harrison as a major-gen-
eral to command them. Fort Wayne was already
assailed by the British and Indians, and with this
force Harrison marched on the 29th of August to
its relief. At Piqua he was overtaken by an ex-
press from Washington bringing his appointment
as a brigadier-general. He declined it, however, as
it would subject him to the command of Winches-
ter, another relic of the Revolutionary army upon
whom Mr. Madison had conferred a brigadiership.
Pushing through, Harrison broke up the siege of
Fort Wayne September 12th, and then surren-
dered his command to Winchester.

330

OHIO.

This was the first harbinger of safety to the
people of Ohio. At Piqua, on his return, he met
another express from the President, bearing his
commission as a major-general, and appointing
him commander-in-chief of the Northwest. This
placed him at the head of the regular troops in
that department, as well as the Kentucky volun-
teers, the militia of Ohio, and of two brigades of
militia then on their march from Pennsylvania
and Virginia.

Gathering these forces, General Harrison first
established a defensive line across the state from
Wooster through Upper Sandusky to the St.
Mary’s, and thence down to Fort Wayne. He
then attempted to form three columns for a con-
verging advance to the rapids of the Maumee,
intending thence to move upon Detroit. The
left was under Winchester at Fort Wayne ; the
centre was of Ohio mounted men under Brigadier-
General Tupper, on Hull’s road to the Maumee ;
and the right, under his own command, was to
have moved from Sandusky. Winter closed the
campaign before this vexatious combination could
be effected, and the people of Ohio had rest.

The campaign of 1813 was preceded by the
horrid butchery, at the river Raisin, of a detach-
ment of Winchester’s troops, who had rashly been
lured there. General Harrison hurried to the
Maumee, and at the foot of the rapids erected
Fort Meigs. In this strong position he defeated
two attempts of General Proctor to carry it by

WAR AND DEBT.

331

siege and bombardment. Proctor’s second failure,
in July, was concluded by an attack upon Fort
Stephenson, on the Sandusky River (Fremont), a
stockade in command of Major George Croghan,
with a garrison of a hundred and fifty men, and
an armament of one iron six-pounder gun. The
desperate and bloody repulse, August 2d, finished
the last invasion of Ohio by the British and sav-
ages.

Two days afterwards the event occurred upon
which the campaign, offensively, was waiting.
Commodore Perry’s fleet, constructed at Erie,
was, on the 4th, floated across the bar into deep
water. He sailed to the head of the lake, to be
seen of the enemy, and spent the last ten or
twelve days of the month in Sandusky Bay, pre-
paring for the impending conflict. General Har-
rison contributed a number of able seamen who
were found in his army, and riflemen also, to
act as marines. Perry took his position at Put-
in Bay, to await the enemy ; the British fleet
stood out from Malden early in the morning of
September 10th, and at 4 o’clock p. M., Perry
sent to General Harrison the famous despatch :
“ We have met the enemy and they are ours.”

With this powerful auxiliary, Detroit and its
fort were flanked, the way across the lake was
clear, the war was transferred to Canada, and
soon completed. The troops, artillery, and sup-
plies were collected at the mouth of the Portage
River, and transferred by boats to the Eastern

332

OHIO.

Sister, the island nearest to Malden, and there
concentrated, September 25th.

The next day Commodore Perry took General
Harrison and Governor Shelby, who volunteered
to serve under him, to reconnoitre Malden and
the neighboring shore. The landing-place was
selected ; Governor Shelby sent orders to Colonel
Richard M. Johnson, waiting with his mounted
brigade at the river Raisin, to advance upon
Detroit. The orders for debarkation, march, and
the expected battle were issued that evening.
On the morning of the 27th the whole army
effected a landing, under cover of Perry’s guns,
at a point three miles below Malden, eager to
redeem the American arms. But Proctor had
withdrawn, and the fort and town were sur-
rendered without resistance. Detroit, also, sur-
rendered on the 29th, and was occupied by Mc-
Arthur’s brigade. On the 30th Johnson’s bri-
gade of eleven hundred mounted Kentuckians
came in at a gallop, and on the next day joined
the army in Canada.

This force was awaited before the pursuit of
General Proctor should be commenced. He was
ascertained to have posted his forces in a strong
position at the Moravian towns on the right
bank of the Thames, about sixty miles from
Detroit. Here he was overtaken October 5th.
There was an open beech woods stretching from
the river to a morass miles in extent. Midway
between the river and the morass was a narrow

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333

swamp, by which the two wings of Proctor’s
forces were divided. Between this swamp and
the river his regular troops were drawn up in
two lines, supported by artillery on both flanks.
The woods between the swamp and the morass
were filled with his large force of Indians, said
to be two thousand, under command of Tecum-
seli.

The position and array of forces was dangerous
to attack, but by another military inspiration,
quick as that of General Brock at Detroit, a
blunder of Proctor was swiftly turned to advan-
tage, and the result determined in fifteen minutes.
As the Americans approached, General Harrison
learned from the keen military eye of his chief
engineer, Major E. D. Wood,1 that the British
regulars were formed in open order, leaving
intervals between the files. His order of battle
was immediately changed. A battalion of the
mounted men, who were to have operated against
the Indians, riders and horses equally trained to
dash through woods and thickets, was ordered up ;
they charged in line upon the British regulars,
received their fire without breaking, and galloped
through. Wheeling about, they delivered their
fire upon the rear of the disordered British, who
were at once routed, and fled with their general
pell-mell. Proctor’s carriage and papers, and
six brass fieldpieces, trophies of Saratoga, which
had been captured at Detroit, were taken. The
1 See Appendix, No. 4.

334

OHIO.

battle of Colonel Johnson and the left wing with
the Indians was obstinately contested. But Te-
cum seh fell at the first fire, and when this and
Proctor’s flight became known the enemy gave
way and scattered.

This victory was so complete that, as to Ohio,
the war of 1812 was terminated. Her soldiers
continued in the field under various commanders.
Large numbers were in the hot campaign of
1814 on the Niagara. But it is an unpleasing
fact, in this as in other matters deeply interesting
in the history of Ohio, that the public offices
contain no record or trace by which we can
determine what soldiers Ohio had in the war
of 1812, or what they did.

Peace returned in 1815, but without prosperity
or healing in its wings. There was a general
state of insolvency which became oppressive
when the stimulus of the war was withdrawn
and the business created by it ceased. A huge
debt to the government had been long accumu-
lating, from the unwise expedient, begun in
1800, of selling the public lands on credits of
one, two, three, and four years, with interest.
Thousands of poor settlers, deluded by this priv-
ilege, expended all they had in making the first
payment, trusting to their crops, and the rise
in value confidently expected, to carry them
through. But they were unable to meet further
payments.

Another heavy debt had been run up at the local

WAR AND DEBT .

335

banks for accommodation loans, by persons who
were eager to build, improve or speculate in
lands. In the general stagnation these obliga-
tions could not be met, and many of the insti-
tutions which had embarked their means chiefly
in such loans were as insolvent as their cus-
tomers. All the banks, before and during the
war, had been issuing paper currency without
limit or control, and as specie payments had been
suspended in most of the states they were in no
condition to meet the resumption in February,
1817, which was required by Congress. In Ohio
and other Western states the circulating notes of
all banks were below par ; notes of the best Ohio
banks were at a discount, in New York, of eight
to fifteen per cent. ; others, twenty to twenty-five
per cent. Merchandise and agricultural products
had two prices, one in specie and another in
paper.

The ignorance and perverseness of legislators
made these complicated evils worse. Congress
had been warned, at an early period, of the mis-
chief certain to result from selling the lands on
credit, but politicians kept up an outcry that it
was “the people’s security against the monopo-
lists.” The people suffered to such a degree
that, according to Judge Burnet, a debt of
$22,000,000 was due to the government in 1820
at the land offices in the West. Congress, in
January, 1821, cut the knot by a law permitting
the debtors to relinquish the lands not paid for,

336

OHIO .

retaining so much as their payments would cover,
without interest.

The legislature of Ohio, to cure the ills of the
banks, adopted Dr. Sangrado’s treatment, and
chartered more of the same sort. A brood of
twelve was hatched by a general law passed
February 23, 1816. In this job all the banks,
old and new, entered into a bargain with the
state by which, in lieu of taxes, each of them
was to set apart one share in twenty-five of its
stock to the state, and accumulate the dividends
upon it until the state should own one sixth of
the capital. This, however, was to be subject to
future legislation, and we may infer how it
operated from the fact that in 1825 the legisla-
ture relinquished its claim on stock by accepting
a tax of two per cent, upon all previous dividends,
and four per cent, upon all made thereafter.

This juggling with the banks and the currency
led to a heated strife between the Whig and
Democratic parties, until the adoption, in Febru-
ary, 1845, of a new system, based upon sound
and secure principles.

Early in this bank imbroglio there was a bold
attempt by the legislature to exclude the Bank of
the United States from carrying on business in
Ohio. Two branches had been established in
1817 at Cincinnati and Chillicothe. A conflict
with the local banks immediately ensued, as the
United States Bank had agreed to receive and
remit the funds of the land offices for the gov-

WAR AND DEBT.

337

ernment. The Commercial Bank of Lake Erie
(Cleveland) in May, 1818, refused to redeem its
notes in specie because presented by a United
States branch bank. In a card issued by Mr.
Alfred Kelly and the directors, this action was
upheld on the ground that the avowed object of
the United States Bank was to destroy the coun-
try banks, drain the country of specie, oppress
the public, and endanger the liberties of the
people. In February, 1819, a tax of 150,000
upon each of the branches was assessed, if they
should continue to carry on business after Sep-
tember 1st. Ralph Osborn, the auditor of state,
summarily took from the Chillicothe branch mon-
eys sufficient to cover the tax upon both. In a
celebrated suit by the bank against the auditor,
the Supreme Court of the United States reiter-
ated its previous judgment, that banks estab-
lished by the United States as government agen-
cies cannot be taxed by a state, and decided a
still more subtle point, that, as the auditor was a
mere trespasser, he could not escape on the ground
that the suit, though nominally against him, was
really against the State. It was upon this that
the legislature, under the advice of their eminent
leader and counsel, Charles Hammond, had princi-
pally relied. The manifesto, composed by Mr.
Hammond, which they put forth in the heat of
the contest, was regarded as a matchless exposi-
tion of state rights. The rage against the bank
was such that General McArthur, one of its chief

338

OHIO.

supporters in the legislature, with all his popu-
larity, lost his election in Ross County. But the
storm and the manifesto alike were dispelled by
the majestic logic of the Chief Justice.

The establishment of the state capital at Co-
lumbus was celebrated December 3, 1816, by the
first meeting there of the legislature and gov-
ernor. Governor Worthington’s speech forcibly
presented the financial disadvantages from which
the state was suffering. As objects also claiming
particular attention of the assembly, he pointed
to the necessity of having public schools and
better roads. In his speech to the next assem-
bly he brought before them again the importance
to the state of organizing a system of free
schools, and putting it into operation. The great
difficulty of procuring teachers led him to suggest
a normal school at the seat of government as the
solid foundation for such a superstructure.

Nothing now intervened between the pioneer
stage and the completion of the state in its
full territorial sway but an adjustment with the
Indians. This was quickly and satisfactorily ac-
complished by treaties with the various tribes,
at conventions held in 1817 and 1818, by Gen-
erals Cass, McArthur, and others, as commis-
sioners of the United States. All that part of
the state north of the Greenville treaty line and
west of the Firelands was ceded for annuities
perpetually secured to each tribe, but large tracts
reserved by each for their homes. Subsequently

WAR AND DEBT.

339

these reservations on the Sandusky, the Auglaize,
and at Wapakoneta were exchanged by the
tribes, one after another, for larger tracts west
of the Mississippi, until all were removed. The
last of them, the Wyandots, filed through the streets
of Cincinnati in the summer of 1841, a motley
train in this migration.

The northwest quarter of the state was divided
in February, 1820, nominally, into fourteen coun-
ties, unorganized, of course, as there were not
citizens enough in half of them to form a grand
jury. Ohio thus, after many mutations of sov_
ereignty and ownership, became at length a state
in her own right.

What appearance this new country and people
wore, in those days, is briefly told in the diary of
Dr. John Cotton, a young physician from Ply-
mouth, Massachusetts, who settled himself soon
after the war at Marietta. He was of the im-
pression that the Ohio Company had not been en-
tirely judicious in their choice, and in November,
1815, went upon a short tour of observation.

At Zanesville he found an active, enterprising
population of two or three hundred, busy in dig-
ging a short canal through rock, for a water-
power and factories. To pay the expense a pri-
vate bank was issuing bills, which were in good
credit. Coal already was used exclusively for
fuel. Lancaster was a flourishing town of eight
hundred or a thousand people, mostly Germans,
and was surrounded by beautiful farms. On

340

OHIO .

Zane’s Road numerous wagons of 44 movers ” were
going west, camping at nights like Indians around
their fires. Chillicothe, still the capital, was re-
ported to be very sickly, from its low position,
but no town which Dr. Cotton visited 46 disap-
pointed him more agreeably.” It was then the
second town in the state in population, having
three or four thousand inhabitants, and 44 in point
of appearance the finest in the state.” Turning
thence up the rich valley of the Scioto, he found
a curiosity in the dry prairie of the Pickaway
Plains, and still more in the circle and mound
of the aborigines upon which Circleville had five
years before been built. He was also struck by
the patriotism displayed in the signs at the tav-
erns, which most commonly bore the names of
Washington, Lafayette, Jackson, and other Amer-
ican heroes. Of Columbus, which had been se-
lected as the future seat of government, we give
Dr. Cotton’s account in his own words : —

44 It is of only three years’ growth, and yet, strange to
tell, it contains two hundred houses and seven hundred
inhabitants. The streets are filled with stumps of trees
and environed with woods, which give the town the ap-
pearance of having just emerged from the forest. The
houses, generally, are small and indifferent, and, as the
town was laid out on a large scale, considerably scat-
tered. The people have been collected from every
quarter, and having great diversity of habits and man-
ners, of course, do not make the most agreeable com-
pany. An elegant state-house is here being erected,

WAR AND DEBT.

341

about eighty feet square, constructed of brick, and fin-
ished with elegant white marble. One thing seems
truly ridiculous. Inscriptions are set up over the doors
on beautiful slabs of marble, taken from Joel Barlow’s
Columbiad, holding forth the detestable principles of
the French Revolution. Another large building is
likewise going up for the purpose of state offices.
There is a state prison also, or, as it is here called, a
penitentiary for convicts, though quite too small, one
would be apt to judge, for that purpose.”

From Columbus, Dr. Cotton returned by way
of Athens, much disappointed at not finding the
expected university, though it had been chartered
fifteen years before. It was only an academy.
The trustees were about to employ a professor of
mathematics, and were talking of building a col-
lege one hundred and sixty-six feet in length,
but when it would actually be erected was prob-
lematical. The president, an excellent man, was
officiating as the parish minister.

As to schools, Dr. Cotton rated the state as
deficient. There were academies in the principal
towns, but schoolmasters in general met with
little encouragement. The state of religion, like
that of schools, was less favorable than he could
have wished. But Dr. Cotton, it is to be observed,
had come from the very centre of schools and
churches. There were Presbyterian ministers in
all the principal towns, and a few of the Congre-
gationalists. The famous Lorenzo Dow, of no
sect, was preaching through Ohio to crowded au-

342

OHIO.

diences. At Marietta he preached three times in
the forenoon and twice in the afternoon, without
hymn or prayer. The Methodists were numerous
and widespread ; they afforded a great privilege,
the doctor thought, where no other worship was
to be had, but often “ productive of enthusiasm
and delusion.” Camp-meetings were held, usually
for three or four days ; the ministers, sometimes
to the number of fifteen or twenty, holding forth
in rotation. Bible societies also were forming.
Of the north part of Ohio, Dr. Cotton says only
that it was flat and marshy, and still called New
Connecticut.

Three years later, in August, 1818, William
Darby, the gazetteer, sailed up Lake Erie from
Buffalo to Detroit, just too soon to witness the
first trip of the Walk-in-the- Water, in that month.
Approaching Ohio he found the settlements more
rare, and the borders of the lake covered by a
vast forest. Fairport, Painesville, and Cleveland
are described as the only flourishing places he
saw, but they made a fair show of stores, mills
and machinery, besides wearing an airy and
healthy appearance; Cleveland had also a bank
and a printing-office, and from its direct line of
communication with Pittsburgh and Detroit, was
a place of consequence. Sandusky, then called
Portland, and the now beautiful little city of Nor-
walk, had just been established. But in Huron
County Judge Todd had opened the courts in
1815. At the east end of the Reserve, Warren

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343

and Youngstown, from their proximity to Pitts-
burgh and the channels of commerce, had both
acquired importance and were engaged in a con-
test for the county seat, which far outlasted the
Trojan war in duration. Except these points,
northern Ohio was wrapped in a commercial and
political seclusion which really was not termi-
nated until the opening of the great Hudson and
Erie Canal. The most populous and flourishing
part of the state at this time, it need hardly be
added, was at the southwest, in the broad and
fertile expanse of the Miami valley. Besides
this immense agricultural back country, Cincin-
nati had great commercial advantages, from its
position on the Ohio River, and the military and
political influences in its favor. It was not until
1817, however, that Captain Shreve, with the
steamer Washington, had effected such regular
and stated passages between New Orleans and
the Ohio as to overcome the terrible obstacles of
the Mississippi, and “ convince the despairing
public that steamboat navigation would succeed
on the Western rivers.”

In 1820 Cincinnati had grown to an incorpo-
rated city, with a population between ten and
eleven thousand in numbers. It was not only
considerable in its commerce and manufactures,
but also in numerous religious, literary, and be-
nevolent institutions and enterprises, admirably
described in the 64 Picture of Cincinnati,” by Dr.
Daniel Drake, published in 1815, a book which

344

OHIO.

gave a great impulse to the growth and fame of
the city. What metropolitan airs it had now ac-
quired may be inferred from the existence, among
its establishments in 1820, of water- works, which
supplied the city from the Ohio River, of four
newspapers, a theatre, two museums, and a piano
factory.

At the end of this second decade of the cen-
tury Ohio numbered in the census 581,295 inhab-
itants. The name of “ The Yankee State,” which
it had obtained at the West, sent abroad a gen-
eral impression that the emigration from New
England was large, but it was not so. The ap-
pellative was given by the Kentuckians and Vir-
ginians ; it bore a hostile sense, and signified the
deep-seated jealousy already felt by the Southern
neighbors toward the free institutions on the
north side of the Ohio. Nine tenths of the peo-
ple were agricultural or pastoral, lands and cattle
still being the chief wealth. But besides the di-
versity of origin, already explained, which has
had a marked influence upon the character and
history of the state, the position of Ohio had ena-
bled her to receive and retain the flower of the
emigration which was proceeding from all quar-
ters to the Northwest, and thus she was favored
with a larger proportion of intelligent and culti-
vated society than was drawn in later years to
the frontier. There was not only the spontaneous
hospitality and friendliness so common to the
pioneers, but tourists at this early period were

WAR AND DEBT.

345

charmed to find, at various points in Ohio, circles
of polite and refined people living in plain houses
and with but little expense or show. There were
such incongruities as silver spoons, and even
forks, not only in use, but manufactured in Ohio,
in those days, as divers treasured relics prove.
General Lafayette, DeWitt Clinton, and Bern-
hardt, the Duke of Saxe Weimar, visited Ohio
in the years 1825-6, and all observed this early
influence. Levasseur, the secretary of Lafayette,
and writer of his tour, states that the general,
in his astonishment at this new creation and the
delicate attentions he received, exclaimed that
Ohio was the eighth wonder of the world.

CHAPTER XIII.

PROGRESS.

From these beginnings to the present condition
there is a long stride, in which but a few results
or leading events can be taken into view as way-
marks in the progress of the state.

The problem of development had become criti-
cal and interesting. Here was half a million
people, with a superabundance of fertile lands
and products absolutely free, dependent on their
own labor, having but little money, and in a meas-
ure shut up. Thousands were pouring in, but the
question was how to get their products out. A
prodigious trade in driving cattle, horses, and hogs
to the eastern market seemed possible after the
war of 1812, but the bad roads and want of for-
age made it hazardous. The Rev. Timothy Flint,
journeying to the West in November, 1815, en-
countered a drove of a thousand cattle and hogs
in the Alleghany Mountains, “ of an unnatural
shagginess and roughness like wolves, and the
drovers from Mad River were as untamed and
wild in their looks as Crusoe’s Man Friday.”
Commerce in the other direction, down the Mis-
sissippi, was subject to even greater perils. Steam

PROGRESS.

347

navigation was for years almost hopeless against
the disasters of snags, bursting boilers, and inex-
perienced engineers and pilots.

But the difficulty of the situation brought forth
measures which created the era of Ohio’s great
growth and prosperity. New York, as we have
seen, had invited Ohio in 1815, to join her in the
scheme of connecting the Hudson with Lake Erie.
In December, 1816, another communication came
from DeWitt Clinton, the president of the New
York Canal Commission, urging the vital impor-
tance of the work to Ohio. Governor Brown, in
a special message in 1819, argued forcibly in
favor of a canal project by which Ohio might
profit directly in the great work already com-
menced in New York. The assembly were so far
aroused that they appointed commissioners to re-
port whether a canal was practicable, but made it
dependent upon the aid of Congress, and this
caused another delay.

The subject of common schools was brought
before the legislature about the same time by an
exposure of the shameless squandering of the
school lands, which, under cover of legislative pro-
ceedings, had been going on for seventeen years.
Atwater, who was in the legislature in 1821 and
one of the investigators, is authority for the state-
ment that by this legislative trickery one senator
contrived to get seven sections of the school lands
into the clutches of himself and his family, and
that the state lost, at a low estimate, a million

848

OHIO.

dollars. The assembly had treated the abuses
with much the same indifference as it had shown
upon the subject of roads and canals. The only
attempt they had made at a school law was an act
passed in January, 1821, permitting the profits
from the lands to be applied to the erection of
schoolhouses, but requiring the tuition to be paid
by the people of the district.

At the session of 1821-22 a combination was
formed in the assembly between the friends of
canals and schools, and on the same day, January
31, 1822, two measures were adopted. One was
an act appointing commissioners to report a route
for a canal to connect Lake Erie with the Ohio
River. The other was a resolution authorizing
the governor to appoint commissioners to report
a common - school system for the state. This
canal commission, aided by engineers who had
had experience in planning the New York and
Erie work, were engaged three years in investi-
gating and comparing four possible lines : one by
way of the Maumee and Big Miami valleys ; an-
other through the valleys of the Sandusky and
Scioto rivers ; the third by the way of the Cuya-
hoga and Muskingum ; and the fourth by Grand
River and the Mahoning. In January, 1825,
after every possible test, they recommended the
two lines now known as the Ohio Canal and the
Miami and Erie. Their report was adopted, and
an act was passed by the assembly February 4,
1825, appointing a board of canal commissioners

PROGRESS.

349

to construct the Ohio Canal complete from Ports-
mouth to Cleveland, and that part of the Miami
Canal located between Cincinnati and Dayton.
Another board, styled commissioners of the canal
fund, was established by the same act, to raise
such loans as the canal commissioners might re-
quire. As an indication of the character and
credit which the state by this energetic policy
had acquired, the first sale of Ohio bonds, in 1825,
was $400,000, at the rate of 97 \ per cent., but all
subsequent sales were at a premium.

The shout of joy and the blaze of illumination
which went up from the hills and valleys of Ohio,
as the news of this prompt action of the assembly
traversed the state, was a jubilation such as never
before had happened northwest of the Beautiful
River. The 4th of July was selected as the day
for the commencement of work on the Ohio
Canal, and DeWitt Clinton, now governor of
New York, was invited to strike the first shovel
into its excavation. The Licking Summit, near
Newark, was the place selected for the ceremony.
Governor Clinton was greeted by Governor Mor-
row with a most happy allusion to his former exer-
tions for the admission of Ohio into the Union,
“ in no small degree owing to his espousal of her
cause ” as a senator in Congress. Thomas Ewing,
then growing to the prime of his strong intellect
and fame, was the orator of the day. After this
grand gala, Governor Clinton made a tour through
southern Ohio, encouraging and confirming the

850

OHIO .

spirit of the people in the great work they had
begun, and adding immensely to the success with
which it was prosecuted.

The Miami Canal to Dayton was commenced
in 1826. This and the Ohio Canal were com-
pleted in 1883, and the entire system finished in
1842, at a total cost of $14,688,666.97. This
comprehended 658 miles of canals proper, or 796
miles, if navigable slack water, feeders, side cuts,
and reservoirs be reckoned.

The effect of these improvements upon the
growth and prosperity of the state can hardly be
exaggerated. They lifted Ohio as it were into a
new sphere. They opened to her farmers and
merchants the markets of the Ohio, the lakes, and
New York. They enhanced the value of the lands
as well as of the products. They opened inter-
course with the northern and northwestern parts
of the state, built up Cleveland, Toledo, Akron,
Massillon, and many lesser marts, and thus tended
to unite a long segregated people as well as to
make them prosperous. They brought a large
accession of population and capital, and gave the
state a name and character throughout the coun-
try of which her sons justly began to be proud.

Of the later system of the railways, first intro-
duced in Ohio in 1832, and the turnpike system
into which the state was inveigled in 1837 by a
statute known as the “ plunder law,” it is im-
practicable, and indeed unnecessary, to make more
than this mention.

PROGRESS .

351

The advocates of common schools in the mean-
while had not been so successful, and perhaps not
so wise. The commissioners appointed in 1822
made a report, and published it broadcast through
the state. But it met with no favor in the next
assembly. Many influential men opposed it. One
objection was that the proposed school tax was
not authorized by the Constitution. This was
met and overthrown by the clause transmitted
from the Ordinance, declaring that as religion,
morality, and knowledge were essential to the
government, u schools and the means of instruc-
tion shall forever be encouraged by legislative
provision,” and upon this single warrant the legis-
lature, February 5, 1825, passed the first act
establishing free schools in Ohio. But the tax of
one mill on the dollar, which it authorized, was
insufficient, and the schools conducted under these
initial laws would perhaps have left no trace of
their existence but for a passage in the “ Tour of
Lafayette in America ” worth transcribing : —

“ On the morning after his arrival in Cincinnati, in
May, 1825,” says the secretary, “ the first honors which
the general received at sunrise were from the boys and
girls belonging to the public schools. Assembled to the
number of six hundred, under the superintendence of
their teachers, these children were ranged in the princi-
pal street, where they made the air echo with ‘ Welcome
to Lafayette.’ When the general appeared before them
their young hands scattered flowers under his feet, and
Dr. Ruter advancing delivered him an address in their
name,” etc.

352

OHIO .

The act of 1825 has been followed, from that
time to the present, by statute upon statute, each
fraught, as their authors fancied, with the latest
and most advanced methods and ideas, but all so
perishable and abortive that none but theorists
and empiricists would seem to have had the field.
This in some degree explains the hostility to pub-
lic schools which so often breaks forth. The mis-
fortune has been in attempting too much. Instead
of accomplishing a few things thoroughly, the
common schools have been overloaded with super-
fluities foreign to their purpose. The main abuse
is in subordinating these invaluable institutions
to private and eleemosynary interests instead of
holding them sacredly to the public service and
welfare. The other evil, consequent upon the
first, is defective or inefficient instruction; too
much stress upon percentages, and far too little
upon manners and character. The result of the
constant mutations is, that as a system little is left
but the tax and a general supervision ; the state
virtually surrendering its schools to a thousand
local influences over which it exerts little or no
inspection or control. There is no normal school
as a centre. Amid the differences in its thousands
of fractured parts the people of the state are suf-
fering the greatest inequalities in their schools.
But with all their shortcomings the public schools
have been a pillar of the state, and of priceless
value to its people.

The colossal proportions to which they have

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353

grown, and the work they are doing, will appear
by a few gleanings from the commissioner’s re-
port for the year 1887. Oat of a population of
3,198,062 (by the census of 1880) there were
enrolled during the year in the public schools of
Ohio 767,030 youths between the ages of five and
twenty-one years ; and of these 519,110, on an
average, attended the year through, at 12,589
schoolhouses, and a total cost of $9,909,812.12.
The following table exhibits their studies, and
clearly points out the dividing line between the
schools and the great mass of the people :

BRANCHES TAUGHT, AND NUMBER IN EACH,

A. D. 1887.

Beading 681,328

Writing 650,597

Arithmetic 599,597

Geography 345,485

English Grammar 217,632

Composition 211,053

United States History 99,022

General History 6,025

Drawing 165,680

Vocal Music 202,345

Map-drawing 51,101

Oral lessons 205,949

Physical Geography 10,961

Physics 10,470

Physiology . . . * 11,144

Botany 2,893

Geometry 6,009

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OHIO.

Trigonometry 1,361

Surveying 160

Literature . 4,666

Chemistry 2,227

Geology 960

German 47,7 49

Astronomy 2,729

Book-keeping .3,799

Algebra 18,044

Natural History 1,024

Mental Philosophy 630

Moral Philosophy 207

Logic 34

Rhetoric 3,435

Science of Government 3,418

Political Economy 277

Latin 7,278

Greek 207

French 83

Besides the immense subsidy for schools pro-
vided by Congress, it will not have been over-
looked that two townships in the Ohio Company’s
purchase were set apart for a college, and one in
the Miami purchase for the more humble lot of
an academy ; both, however, bloomed forth at an
early period, under the imposing names, respec-
tively, of the Ohio University, at Athens, and the
Miami University, at Oxford. Some conception
of the advance of Ohio upon these early lines in
higher literature and the arts may be gained from
the further statement in the commissioner’s re-
port, that in 1887 the state had ten universities

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355

and nineteen colleges, with 2,378 students, male
or female, and that 313 were graduated during
the year. The import of these high-sounding
names and numbers is seriously marred, however,
by a statement, said to be authentic, that more
than a hundred and fifty students from Ohio were
to be found at the same time in the colleges of
the Eastern states.

In noting this development of literary and
scientific culture in Ohio, it would be ungracious
not to give her the meed of honor for having
built and established the first regularly equipped
public astronomical observatory in the United
States. It was founded chiefly by the enthusi-
asm and efforts of Professor Ormsby M. Mitchell,
and the corner-stone was laid in November, 1842,
by the ex-president, John Quincy Adams. It has
been surpassed by observatories of later founda-
tion, but it is nevertheless entitled to this prece-
dence in history.

The great donations of lands for school pur-
poses made by Congress to this and other West-
ern states had naturally been regarded by the
country as a mere largess. But in Ohio they
were by no means accepted in that light. Reso-
lutions were adopted by the legislature of Mary-
land, about the year 1820, asserting a claim for
similar appropriations of lands to the original
states for the support of schools. This led to a
spirited response by the legislature of Ohio, in
January, 1822, of much historical interest, in

356

OHIO.

which it was shown that by the enhanced prices
exacted by the United States from the purchasers
of the other thirty-one sections, in each town-
ship, in consideration of the dedication of section
sixteen, the gift had been repaid ten times over.

This session of the assembly, which gave an
impulse to the canals and schools, seems to have
been possessed of a militant spirit. Retaliatory
measures were adopted against New York for
enforcing on Lake Erie the law of 1808, by
which the exclusive navigation of her waters by
steam had been granted to Livingston and Ful-
ton. But this monopoly was soon afterwards de-
feated by a judgment of the Supreme Court of
the United States.

Another conflict in which Ohio became in-
volved, in 1835, with the high powers of Michi-
gan Territory, was near being tragical. An im-
portant portion of the state was involved, and it
has been so much misunderstood on both sides
that a brief explanation, taken from the report
of a committee of Congress, may be offered.

In the enabling act for admitting Ohio into
the Union, the north boundary proposed by Con-
gress was the east and west line through the south
extreme of Lake Michigan mentioned in the
Ordinance of 1787. On Mitchell’s map, which
then was the government standard, this extreme
of Lake Michigan was laid down as in latitude
forty-two degrees and twenty minutes north. But
the east and west line was not fixed as the boun-

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357

dary. On the contrary, liberty was expressly re-
served by Congress in the act to annex the terri-
tory north of it to Ohio, or dispose of it in any
other manner conforming with the Ordinance.
Meanwhile it was to be part of Indiana Territory.
The convention which formed the Constitution of
Ohio had information which led them to insert in
it a proviso that in case Lake Michigan should be
found to extend so far south that this east and
west line intersected Lake Erie east of the mouth
of the Maumee River or Bay, then, with the assent
of Congress, the north boundary of Ohio should
be in a line to be drawn from the south extrem-
ity of Lake Michigan to the North Cape at the
mouth of the Maumee. The Constitution was
accepted by Congress, and upon it Ohio became
a state. But as the country was occupied by
Indians, no attention was then given to the
boundary.

In January, 1805, Michigan Territory was set
apart from Indiana Territory and the east and
west line through the head of Lake Michigan was
the dividing line. But when Indiana was ad-
mitted as a state in 1816, her north boundary
was established ten miles north of the Michigan
line ; and the north boundary of Illinois, when
admitted in 1818, was established more than
fifty miles north of the line through the head of
Lake Michigan. The act, moreover, declared
that the residue of Michigan Territory north of
Indiana was to remain subject to the disposal of
Congress.

358

OHIO.

This was decisive that the east and west line
referred to in the Ordinance was not considered
by Congress as restricting the north boundary of
the three states on the Ohio River ; secondly,
that the territory of Michigan was still at the
disposal of Congress for the purpose contem-
plated, if not pledged in the Ohio Enabling Act
and Constitution.

Repeated applications were made to Congress
by the Ohio assembly to settle the boundary,
and various surveys were executed. By an act
of Congress, in May, 1812, the surveyor-general
was directed to cause a survey of the east and
west line as soon as the Indians would permit it,
and to report a plat showing where it intersected
Lake Erie. Mr. Harris, a deputy, was sent to
survey this line in 1817, but, unduly magnifying
his office, he proceeded to run the “ north boun-
dary line of Ohio,” as he styled it, on the course
from the North Cape of Maumee Bay to the
head of Lake Michigan. This was called the
“ Harris line.” But since it was not in compli-
ance with the order of Congress, another deputy,
John A. Fulton, executed the survey in 1818, and
ascertained that the line in question, if extended
due east, crossed the Maumee some miles above
Toledo, and intersected the shore of Lake Erie
considerably east and south of the Maumee Bay.
This was the “ Fulton line,” so called.

Another survey, ordered by Congress in July,
1832, was executed by Captain A. Talcott, of the

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359

engineers. By astronomical observations, as well
as by surveys made with great accuracy in 1833
and 1834, he ascertained that the south extreme
of Lake Michigan was in latitude 41 degrees, 37
minutes, and 7 seconds north ; 'and that this line, '
produced due east, crossed the Maumee and inter-
sected Lake Erie very nearly as reported by
Fulton. He found, also, that the most southerly
bend in Lake Erie (near Huron) is in latitude 41
degrees and 23 minutes north ; and the middle
of the lake, between this and Point Pelee, oppo-
site, is 41 degrees, 38 minutes, and 21 seconds
north.

Thus the north boundary of Ohio, extended
literally as proposed in the enabling act, would
cut off not only Toledo and the north range of
townships in Lucas, Fulton, and Williams coun-
ties, but, passing south of the boundary lines be-
tween the United States and Canada, would have
taken off a part of Ashtabula, all of Lake, and
portions of Geauga and Cuyahoga counties.

Obviously, therefore, her right to have the con-
sent of Congress to the change stipulated in the
Constitution was irresistible, notwithstanding the
dictum of Mr. John Q. Adams. But it is equally
obvious that without the consent of Congress the
right was imperfect. The question stood simply
between the United States and Ohio, and upon
that footing ; and there was no doubt that Con-
gress, on receiving Captain Talcott’s report, would
consent.

360

OHIO.

Before this could be accomplished, there wa3
a rupture, in December, 1834. The legislative
council of Michigan, with the same lofty idea of
their functions as that held by Mr. Harris the
surveyor, instructed their acting governor, Ste-
vens Thompson Mason, an ardent young Virgin-
ian, to appoint commissioners to treat in behalf
of Michigan with the three states of Ohio, Indi-
ana, and Illinois for an adjustment and final set-
tlement of their north boundaries. Governor
Lucas of Ohio, to whom this was formally com-
municated by Mason, instead of referring it to
the President as an act of foolish arrogance, saw
fit to make a similar blunder, and sent the papers
to the general assembly of Ohio, then in session,
with a message advising that prompt and effec-
tive measures be taken for extending the juris-
diction of Ohio up to the “ boundary specified in
her constitution.” The legislature, sharing in
the same spirit, passed laws accordingly, Febru-
ary 23, 1835, with a preamble not only hurling
defiance at Michigan, but giving the United
States to understand that it “ ill becomes a mil-
lion of freemen to humbly petition, year after
year, for what justly belongs to them and is com-
pletely within their own control.”

Michigan, however, had not waited for this
fulmination of the Ohio assembly. Her fiery
young governor no sooner saw the message of
Governor Lucas than he ordered out General
Brown and the militia to resist the Buckeye in-

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361

vasion. The council passed a law prohibiting
the exercise or abetting of any foreign jurisdic-
tion within the limits of Michigan, under peril of
fine and imprisonment. A party of Ohio commis-
sioners, peaceably re-surveying and marking the
44 Harris line,” in April, were routed and their
surveyors and assistants captured by General
Brown and committed to jail. The judge and
officers of an Ohio court appointed to be held at
Toledo, September 1, were likewise arrested by
an armed force. The President (General Jack-
son), in a spirit somewhat new to his character,
was gently remonstrating with both parties all
through the summer. Governor Mason, by an
act of disrespect, however, aroused his more nat-
ural mood, and was summarily dismissed from
office. The 44 tempest in a tea-pot ” gradually
subsided. Congress met, and by an act passed
June 13, 1836, confirmed the boundary which
Ohio had claimed, and admitted Michigan as a
state upon the express condition that she yielded
the point.

The annexation of Texas in 1846 brought on
the war with Mexico. It was to have been a
44 bloodless achievement.” But the President, by
a transcendent stretch of power, ordered General
Zachary Taylor to occupy the left bank of the
Rio Grande. The Mexican generals fell upon the
little army, tempted by its inferiority in quan-
tity, but in two vigorous assaults were foiled
and defeated by its superiority in quality. The

362

OHIO.

President announced to Congress that “ war ex-
isted,” and fifty thousand volunteers and ten mil-
lion dollars were promptly voted to sustain him.
Twenty thousand volunteers were called out, and
a quota of three thousand assigned to Ohio.

Forty companies reported at Camp Washing-
ton, near Cincinnati ; thirty were accepted and
formed into three regiments, which under Colonels
Alexander M. Mitchell, George W. Morgan, and
Samuel R. Curtis, embarked and joined General
Taylor, on the Rio Grande, in July. In the fol-
lowing year some additional battalions were
raised in Ohio, the whole number sent by her to
Mexico being 5,536, rank and file. Mitchell’s
regiment, the only one in battle, took a distin-
guished part in the storming of Monterey, and
lost severely in killed and wounded.

The great loss of Ohio was in the death of
Brigadier-General Thomas L. Hamer, a man of
strength, influence, and character, surpassed by
none of his contemporaries. As a representa-
tive in Congress he had sustained the administra-
tion in its Texan policy, and on the call for vol-
unteers he enlisted at once as a private. He soon
received a commission as brigadier-general, and
how well he bore it is best told in General Tay-
lor’s own words : —

Camp near Monterey, December 31, 1846.

Sir: It becomes my melancholy duty to report the
death of Brigadier- General Hamer, of the volunteer
service, who expired last evening after a short illness.

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363

The order to the army announcing this sudden dis-
pensation expresses but feebly the high estimation in
which the deceased was held by all who knew him.
In council I found him clear and judicious, and in the
administration of his command, though kind, yet always
impartial and just. He was an active participant in
the operations before Monterey, and since had com-
manded the Volunteer division. His loss to the army
at this time cannot be supplied, and the experience
which he daily acquired in a new profession rendered
his services continually more valuable. I had looked
forward with confidence to the benefit of his abilities
and judgment in the service which yet lies before us,
and feel most sensibly the privation.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Z. Taylor,

Major-General U. S. A.

The Adjutant-General, Washington, D. C.

Unimportant as this war in itself was for Ohio,
it produced an upheaval of the state in its conse-
quences. The annexation of Texas had excited
profound 'distrust and alarm. The change of base
made by the nomination of General Taylor by
the Whigs, as their candidate for the presidency,
brought about a schism which for years had been
avoided. From that time the cloud, w no bigger
than a man’s hand,” grew and darkened the coun-
try until the culmination of the storm at Mr. Lin-
coln’s election.

The history of the change in public opinion
which now took place in Ohio is a curious one.
Just when or how the anti-slavery temper became

364

OHIO.

thoroughly aroused, has not been accurately
traced. Ohio, politically, had been antagonistic
to slavery from the beginning. This appears
not only in her constant adhesion to the Ordi-
nance of 1787 in every attempt to suspend or
qualify it, but her senators and representatives
in Congress were on various occasions, notably in
January, 1820, during the Missouri controversy,
urged to the utmost exertions to prevent the in-
troduction of slavery into any of the territories
or into any new state thereafter admitted into
the Union.

But oddly associated with this fixed principle,
all along from the territorial period down to a
time somewhere between 1830 and 1836, there
had been a certain tacit tolerance of slavery by
the people of the state, so that Southern slave-
owners visiting Ohio, or traveling through, were
accompanied by their servants, without question,
and by a sort of common concession of right.
Numbers of slaves, as many as two thousand it
was sometimes supposed, were hired in southern
Ohio from Virginia and Kentucky, chiefly by
farmers.

But during the five years preceding 1840 all
this had ceased, and slaves who were brought into
the state were not only enticed away, or dis-
charged by writs of habeas corpus procured in
their names, but numbers were abducted from
the slave states and concealed or smuggled by
the “ underground railroad” into Canada. The

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365

u abolitionists,” as they were indiscriminately
called, had become fanatical and lawless in their
delirium of conscience, while rioters and mobs
took equal pleasure in affording them opportu-
nity for martyrdom.

About the year 1842 the struggle assumed a
different phase. The extreme abolitionists, such
as Messrs. Birney, Garrison, Lovejoy, and Abby
Kelly, were abandoned, and the Liberty party
formed, better known as Free-Soilers, of whom
Mr. Chase, a Whig in 1841, was an early leader.
They renounced all pretensions of abolishing
slavery in the states where it was already fixed,
but would “ draw a ring of fire around them ” im-
passable by a slave.

This was the party which sorely tried Ohio,
and taxed the utmost strategy of the Whig lead-
ers, who found themselves no longer contending
with the blind fury of the abolitionists, but with
the political sagacity of men taunted and enraged
by the manifest intention of the slave states to
reverse the original policy of the Union. It was
the tact and influence of men like Messrs. Gid-
dings and Wade, in counteracting Mr. Chase and
his associates, that had enabled the Whig party
in Ohio to keep the question of slavery so long
out of politics ; but by the choice of General Tay-
lor the dikes were swept away. The Califor-
nia intrigues and then the Kansas-Nebraska plots
helped to swell the flood, and in the war which
ensued slavery was forever ingulfed. This super-

366

OHIO.

ficial glance will serve to explain the attitude
in which Ohio was found when the war broke
out.

Before turning to that subject, it is worthy of
notice that in all the growth and prosperity of
Ohio in population, public works, material wealth,
and other achievements of her people, there was
nothing more conspicuous than the humanity dis-
played in her wide circle of benevolent insti-
tutions. As early as 1827 an institution for
educating deaf and dumb people was incorpo-
rated. In 1831 it was adopted, and has ever
since been maintained by the state. In 1837 a
similar establishment for instructing the blind
was founded, and in the following year an asylum
for the insane.

Without attempting to follow out the gradual
development of the system, we may observe that
the state now sustains six spacious asylums at
various points for the relief of the insane, be-
sides a seventh conducted by contract, and an
“ Institution for feeble-minded youth ; ” also sep-
arate institutions for the Deaf and Dumb and
the Blind, a Working Home for the Blind, a
Boys’ Industrial School, a Girls’ Industrial Home,
a Home for the Orphans of Ohio Soldiers and
Sailors (Xenia), and is erecting an Ohio Soldiers’
and Sailors’ Home (Sandusky). The sum ap-
propriated by the state for all these objects for
the year 1888 is $1,519,764.30, of which $966,-
348.70 goes to the asylums for the insane, and

ifeMi

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367

$114,462.03 to that for “feeble-minded youth.”
To the casual observer, such statistics indicate
a surprising proportion of mental disease or aber-
ration for a people where the conditions of life
are so easy as in Ohio.

CHAPTER XIV.

OHIO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION.1

The assault on Fort Sumter found the legisla-
ture of Ohio meditating plans for reconciliation
and compromise. On the 16th of April, 1861,
within twenty-four hours after the President’s
call for 75,000 troops, the Senate, with but one
dissentient, passed a bill appropriating one mil-
lion dollars for military purposes ; and on the
next day, with but eight votes in the negative,
ratified the Corwin amendment of the Constitu-
tion of the United States, which was designed
forever to protect slavery in the states against
every form of interference by the national gov-
ernment. These proceedings marked the end of
concession and the beginning of war.

In the House of Representatives, after a delay
of two days, the million bill passed by a unan-
imous vote. For the time, party lines had disap-
peared in the legislature and among the people.
The succeeding thirty days of the session were

1 For this chapter the author of the volume is mainly indebted
to two or three military friends, Colonel D. W. McClung espe-
cially. Their thorough acquaintance with the subject, it is hoped,
will give it value.

OHIO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 869

devoted to war legislation, and at the adjourn-
ment the state was on a war footing. Laws
were enacted defining and punishing treason
against the state, guarding against the shipment
of arms and supplies to rebels, organizing the
militia of the state, and regulating war contracts
and purchases.

Instead of thirteen regiments assigned to Ohio
under the first call for troops, enough volunteers
had offered their services before the rush could
be arrested to make seventy regiments or more.
The legislature authorized the governor to accept
ten additional regiments, to be equipped and paid
by the state and employed in her defense.

On the morning of April 19th, the first and
second regiments, without arms, uniforms, or
accoutrements, were dispatched by rail to Wash-
ington. The remaining eleven regiments enlisted
for the national service were assembled at Camp
Dennison, sixteen miles northeast of Cincinnati,
which as early as April 20th had been selected
by the governor as a camp of instruction. It
was soon after accepted by the national authori-
ties, and its use was continued in various forms
until the close of the war.

As soon, almost, as the work had begun, the state
rang with clamorous complaints, most of which
grew out of the impatience of a people suddenly
thrust out of the ways of peace, and called upon
to make preparation for a gigantic war. The
complaints which were founded arose from the

370

OHIO .

inexperience of officials, and an insatiable de-
mand for everything, when nothing was at hand.
At the height of the ferment, the House of Rep-
resentatives, by resolution, called upon the gov-
ernor to dismiss the most important members of
his staff for incompetency, though no one sug-
gested that it was possible to find more capable
or experienced men. As soon as the skill and
intelligence of the people had time to rally, order
appeared, supplies were found in sufficient quan-
tity, their distribution was prompt and effective,
and thereafter complaints were rare.

Governor Dennison, setting aside his original
preference for Irvin McDowell, appointed George
B. McClellan to command the Ohio troops, with
the rank of major-general ; and Jacob D. Cox,
Joshua H. Bates, and Newton Schleich, brigadiers-
general. Within a few days the governor urged
the President to appoint General McClellan
the ranking major-general of volunteers, saying,
“ Ohio must lead throughout the war.” The
President responded by appointing him a major-
general in the United States army. He soon
became commander of a department stretching
from the Mississippi to the Alleghany Mountains,
then commander of the most important of the
national armies, and disappears from the history
of the state to become a conspicuous figure in
national history.

The position of the state between foreign terri-
tory on the north, and four hundred miles of

OHIO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION . 371

slave territory on the south, caused immediate
apprehension for her safety. In both Virginia and
Kentucky the people seemed to be drifting into
the rebellion, and both states were a menace to
Ohio. Governor Dennison’s first care was to guard
the frontier. The entire armed militia of the
state was stationed so as to be quickly available.
At his request the department of General McClel-
lan was enlarged so as to include Western Virginia.
Early in May, the governor was urging the gen-
eral to cross the Ohio River into that position,
which, in a military sense, was the “ most offen-
sive ” region claimed by the rebellion. But the
general manifested his constitutional tendency to
extreme caution, and required more men, delay,
preparation. On the 20th of May, the rebel
forces had reached Grafton. The loyal people
of Western Virginia were crying out for protec-
tion, and the Secretary of War joined the governor
in demanding action. On the 26th of May the
Ohio militia was turned over to the general and
ordered into Virginia. Within twelve hours
after McClellan’s compliance they were in motion.
One column entered the state at Parkersburg, the
other at Wheeling. The two met at Grafton,
and in a few days cleared Western Virginia of
hostile forces. That portion of Virginia was
never regained by the rebellion, and the south-
eastern border of Ohio had rest.

The people of Kentucky, reluctant to join the
rebellion, unwilling to support the government,

372

OHIO.

stood hesitating while the active secessionists
among them pushed their schemes with reckless
zeal. The governor’s insolent refusal to furnish
troops, and his proclamation of neutrality, which
placed the legitimate government on a level with
the rebellion for the time, fairly set forth the
attitude of the state. It was a mere fortification
behind which the enemy could conceal his prep-
aration and mask his movements. Governor
Dennison insisted that no flaxen theories could
long hold in the flames of war, and that the
Kentucky problem should be settled at once by
the seizure of all the strategic points in the state.
The soundness of his judgment was vindicated in
both cases : in the one, by the permanent advan-
tage from accepting it ; in the other, by the evil
consequences of the rejection.

The Ohio regiments, from the 3d to the 13th
inclusive, were not sent to the field under their
three months’ organization. In May and June
they were reorganized by enlistment for three
years. As reorganized, they departed for active
duty, and on the 9th of July the last of the
eleven regiments left the state. The aggregate
strength was 10,353 men ; an average of nine
hundred and forty-one to a regiment, which re-
mained to the end of the war very nearly the
average initial strength of the Ohio regiments.

In July the ten regiments of state militia
returned from the campaign in Western Virginia.
The arrangement to have them mustered and

OHIO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION . 373

paid by the United States government was not
carried out, and they dispersed to their homes
dissatisfied, to give a serious though temporary
check to the volunteer spirit.

On the 22d of July, President Lincoln, re-
sponding to the disaster at Bull Run, called for
500,000 volunteers for three years; the quota
assigned to Ohio being 67,365, or more than one
eighth of the entire army. If the proportion
seems unduly large, it is to be explained by the
fact that the border states could not then be
depended upon, and that the states in rebellion,
the territories, and the Pacific slope were never
included, then or afterwards, in the basis for
military estimates. These portions of the coun-
try afterward furnished more than a quarter of a
million men.

In Ohio the work of organization was pushed
so energetically that at the close of 1861 the
governor could report that 77,845 soldiers had
enlisted for three years ; that forty-six regiments
of infantry, four regiments of cavalry, and
twelve batteries of artillery were already in the
field; that twenty-two regiments of infantry and
four regiments of cavalry were full, or nearly so ;
and that thirteen regiments were in progress.
This amazing result, achieved within six months
after the President’s call, amid the gloom that
overspread the land from the disaster of Bull
Run, is proof alike of the efficiency of the state
authorities and of the resolute patriotism of the
people of Ohio.

374

OHIO.

Meanwhile Governor Dennison’s staff had been
entirely changed, the original members, 'with one
exception, having taken commissions in the army,
where all of them did honorable service, a fact
that seems to call in question the hasty opinion
of the House of Representatives. In the new
organization, C. P. Buckingham became adjutant-
general, Geo. B. Wright quartermaster-general,
Columbus Delano commissary-general, and C. P.
Walcott judge-advocate-general. All were men
of strong character, and efficient in their several
stations.

General Buckingham, a man of sound judge-
ment, even temper, methodical habits, and purest
motives, was one of the few citizens of the state
who, like Rosecrans, Whittlesey, and Sill, had
the advantage of a thorough military education,
and whose services at the outbreak of the war
were of inestimable value.

The governor uttered no word of complaint
or resentment under the fierce and unjust criti-
cism which had fallen upon him, but with un-
changed courtliness of manner, calmly wrought,
night and day, to bring about the great result
that was to save his country and be his own vin-
dication. The people were slow to render him
justice, because to approve him was to condemn
themselves. He was not renominated, partly
for the reasons intimated, and also for reasons of
party expediency. As he had been a Whig and
a Republican, it was deemed expedient to recog-

OHIO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION 375

nize the large and patriotic element in the Demo-
cratic party which had rallied to the support of
the government. The nomination was given to
David Tod, of Mahoning County, a lifelong Dem-
ocrat, a successful man of business, a prominent
leader of his party, and a man of strong convic-
tions and settled purpose. The opposing candi-
date was Hugh J. Jewett. The Democratic party
contented itself with the attitude of an opposition
to the administration in power. Nevertheless,
Tod, who represented an unqualified support of
the administration, was elected by a majority of
fifty-five thousand. He was inaugurated on the
first Monday in January, 1862. He retained the
staff of Governor Dennison, as far as possible.
Walcott had been appointed assistant secretary
of war, and Luther Day was appointed judge-
advocate-general. In April, 1862, Buckingham
was called to the war department, and Charles
W. Hill became adjutant-general.

The regiments remaining in the state were rap-
idly mustered and sent to duty. Within three
months twenty-seven additional regiments of in-
fantry and one of cavalry were turned over to
the national government. Since the state had
more than filled her quota of troops, recruiting
was not at that time urged. But immediately
another great work — a work of humanity such as
no people ever before performed — enlisted the
sympathy and taxed the liberality of the state
and her men and women. Until the spring of

376

OHIO,

1862 the campaigns had been almost bloodless.
The battle of Pittsburgh Landing, with its long
list of wounded, and the sudden increase of sick-
ness caused by exposure, aroused the people to
the necessity for other relief than that afforded
by the government. News of the battle reached
the state April 9th. Within twenty-four hours
three steamboats bearing hospital supplies, physi-
cians, and nurses were on their way to the battle-
field. This was the beginning of that splendid
series of popular efforts to relieve the horrors of
war, which was renewed in every emergency and
continued to the end.

After each battle there was the same urgency
in hurrying to the scene of suffering with special
means of relief.

During the year 1862 the state paid more than
fifty thousand dollars for steamboats, physicians,
and nurses to meet emergencies. The cities of
the state out of their treasuries, and the people
by private contributions, expended more than an
equal amount. About the same time the state
authorities inaugurated a system of agents and
agencies to give succor to soldiers at all conven-
ient points, to communicate important informa-
tion, to visit camps and hospitals, and to perform
any service that might cheer the soldiers or re-
mind them that they were not neglected or for-
gotten.

In May of this year, in consequence of an
alarm for the safety of the national capital, Gov-

OHIO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION . 377

ernor Tod called for volunteers to serve for three
months. Within three days five thousand assem-
bled at Camp Chase, near Columbus. They were
hurriedly formed into regiments, three of which
were dispatched eastward, and the other two as-
signed to guard duty at the Camp Chase prison,
relieving an equal number of disciplined troops.
The incident is noteworthy as showing the spirit
of the people, and the great resources not yet em-
ployed.

Under date of July 2d, the second great call for
three years’ volunteers was issued, 300,000 men ;
the number assigned to Ohio being 36,858. Still
her quota was one eighth. Under the call of
July 22, 1861, she had furnished 84,116 men,
instead of her quota of 67,365, — an excess of
16,751, which had passed to her credit. August
4th another call was issued for 300,000 to serve
for nine months, but wisely enough Ohio did not
organize a single regiment.

At this time, if not earlier, began the deplor-
able error, both in military principle and states-
manship, of depending upon volunteer enlist-
ments, stimulated, by bounties and threats of a
draft, a blunder which worked increasing evil
until the close of the war. The earlier calls for
volunteers, justified by the great emergency, had
hurried to the field, in large measure, the intelli-
gent, patriotic, and public-spirited young men.
The class who, of all others, are most to be
prized were sent to death, while a want of enter-

378

OHIO.

prise, or of patriotism, or of courage, became the
very means of exemption from bearing the bur-
den of citizenship. Though Congress had made
all necessary legal provision for a conscription
by classes, 46 the uniform and just tax upon the
physical strength of a nation,” yet the executive
authorities failed to rise to the height of the
great argument, and a supreme opportunity was
lost.

Thirty-nine additional regiments were pro-
jected; the state was divided into districts, one
or more regiments assigned to each, and the mili-
tary committees in each county were pressed to
diligent effort. The draft somehow had assumed
the shape of a calamity or a shame, but it was
held as a rod over every county and township.
Enrolling officers were everywhere busy making
lists of all citizens within the military age. Be-
fore the end of August, twenty regiments had
been sent out of the state, but the quota was not
filled. The draft was postponed until October.
The threatened invasion of the state by Kirby
Smith, and a like menace from Virginia, tended
to quicken the work of recruiting.

The evils of the system became more apparent.
Aside from the undue burden imposed upon the
patriotic, it created new regiments instead of re-
inforcing the disciplined and veteran organiza-
tions in the field, in which a raw recruit soon
became a soldier. The volunteer had a choice of
regiments, and he usually chose that one to which

OHIO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION . 379

he was urged by an officer whose zeal was stimu-
lated by a commission contingent upon success in
recruiting. The army in the field was likely to
become an army on paper. Nevertheless, the
state officers did all they could to counteract the
tendency, and at the close of the year they esti-
mated that nearly twenty-five thousand men had
gone to the front to be incorporated with veteran
organizations, to become veterans at once.

On the 1st of October it appeared that the
enrolled militia of the state numbered 425,147 ;
the number of volunteers to September 1st was
151,301, and the draft was ordered for the defi-
ciency of 12,251. The result was as might have
been expected. Of those drafted more than four
thousand, either in person or by substitute, vol-
unteered, thus getting their choice of regiments ;
nearly three thousand, for one or another reason,
were discharged ; nearly two thousand ran away ;
and less than twenty-five hundred went to replen-
ish the wasted ranks of veteran regiments.

In July of this year, great alarm was caused
in Cincinnati by the rapid and almost unopposed
movements in central Kentucky, for a period of
ten days, of a thousand rebels under John Morgan.
The Cincinnati police force, under the command
of its chief, with a single piece of artillery, was
s£nt against the enemy. The net result was
that the disorderly elements in Cincinnati be-
came riotous, and the piece of artillery, with its
squad, was captured, not, however, without a

380

OHIO .

creditable defense. In August and September
came the real movement, the occupation of Ken-
tucky by the army of General Bragg, one col-
umn under Kirby Smith threatening Cincinnati.
The danger became fully apparent on Monday,
August 31st. The city council of Cincinnati met
and pledged the city to meet all necessary ex-
pense. The governor issued his proclamation
calling for volunteer militia. Martial law was
proclaimed on Tuesday, September 1st, and the
whole population was put to military duty. A
broad pontoon bridge, constructed by using coal
barges for floats, was thrown across the Ohio
River in one night, and the work of defense was
pushed with the utmost vigor. The picturesque,
irregular militia from the state came pouring into
the city, and continued until turned back five days
afterwards by order of the governor. More than
fifteen thousand had already assembled in the
defense of Cincinnati. On September 5th the
enemy appeared, but for military reasons, or be-
cause the city was too strongly defended to be
taken by hurried assault, they made no attack,
and time had been gained for more orderly and
systematic resistance. The enemy disappeared
September 12th, leaving nothing but an impres-
sive warning of the necessity for better state de-
fenses.

During the summer and autumn of 1862 there
were unmistakable signs that popular enthusiasm
had cooled. Outspoken opposition to the war was

OHIO IN THE WAR FOR TEE UNION . 381

not uncommon. A few citizens were arrested by
order of Governor Tod and sent to military pris-
ons for seditious utterances. At the election held
in October, fourteen Congressmen of the Demo-
cratic party were chosen, and but five Republicans ;
and the Democratic state ticket received a major-
ity of nearly six thousand, against a Republican
majority the previous year of fifty-five thousand.
The Republican vote had fallen off twenty-eight
thousand, and the Democratic vote had increased
thirty-two thousand. This result may in part be
attributed to the withdrawal of voters to recruit
the armies, the legislature not having at this time
enacted the law giving soldiers in the field the
right to vote. The discouraging year of 1862
closed with the appalling disaster at Fredericks-
burg. The legislature of the state gave no signs
of weakness. The thanks of the state were ten-
dered to officers and soldiers who had achieved
any success. Laws were enacted to allow the sol-
diers to vote, and to secure a better defense of the
state. Everything that was done looked toward
a vigorous prosecution of the war. Evidences of
popular discontent became clearer. Violent re-
sistance to the national authority was offered in
March, 1863, by citizens of Noble County. In
May, C. L. Vallandigham was tried by a military
commission and sent across the lines. His arrest
was followed by a violent outbreak at Dayton, in
which the 44 Journal ” office was sacked and sev-
eral buildings burned. In June, further resistance

382

OHIO.

to authority broke out in Holmes County. All
these disturbances were quickly suppressed, with-
out serious conflict or loss of life. That they were
contemptible appeared from the ease with which
they were suppressed.

Following closely upon these indications of dis-
affection, came an invasion of rebel cavalry under
John Morgan. They entered the state at Harris
son, in Hamilton County, July 13th, and during
the following night passed eastward on a line
twelve miles north of Cincinnati. On the same
day General Judah arrived at Cincinnati by
steamboats with his division of cavalry. As
General Hobson with a division of cavalry was
following Morgan closely, it would have been
easy for General Burnside to bring Morgan to
battle in Hamilton County. But he purposely
avoided forcing a battle in the suburbs of a large
city, and waited an opportunity to destroy the
invaders without such peril to life and property.
In response to the governor’s proclamation, the
militia of the state everywhere flew to arms ; but
Morgan’s march had become a mere race for
safety, and he avoided everything that might
cause him delay even for an hour. His line of
march lay through the counties of Hamilton,
Clermont, Brown, Adams, Pike, Jackson, Vinton,
Athens, Gallia, and Meigs. After reaching the
hill country beyond the Scioto River, the attacks
made by the militia became annoying to him.
Fifty thousand men were under arms and eager

OHIO IN TEE WAR FOR TEE UNION. 383

to take part in the hunt. At eight o’clock on the
evening of July 18th the fleeing enemy reached
Portland, opposite Buffington Island, the point
selected for fording the Ohio River. But the
ford was defended, the night pitch-dark, and de-
lay until morning was necessary.

During the night the commands of both Judah
and Hobson came up, the gunboats commanded
the ford, and crossing was impossible. The skir-
mish known as the battle of Buffington Island
was fought, resulting in the capture of seven hun-
dred of Morgan’s men and a number of his most
important officers. In this skirmish Major Daniel
McCook, who accompanied Judah’s command as a
volunteer, was killed. He was a paymaster of vol-
unteers, past sixty years old, with white hair, but
erect, and full of the enthusiasm of youth. He
was the father of Generals A. McD. McCook,
Robert L. McCook, and Colonel Daniel McCook.
This family was not more remarkable for the
number of its fighting-men than for the number
of its members who fell in the war. Every sum-
mer exacted its toll of blood. In July, 1861, the
youngest son was killed at Bull Run. Robert
was killed in Tennessee in July, 1862; the father
fell at Buffington Island in July, 1863 ; and
Daniel was mortally wounded at Kennesaw in
July, 1864.

The remnant of Morgan’s command turned
toward the interior, crossed the Muskingum River
above McConnells ville, fled through the counties

384

OHIO.

of Morgan, Guernsey, Harrison, and Jefferson, and
was finally captured, July 26th, near Salineville
in Columbiana. A committee appointed under an
act of the legislature passed March 30, 1864, re-
ported the losses from the Morgan raid as fol-
lows : By acts of the enemy, $428,168 ; by the
state and national forces, $148,057: a total of
$576,225 inflicted upon the people of the state, —
a less amount than the loss by the burning of the
single city of Chambersburg.

The political campaign of 1863 in Ohio is
memorable not only in the history of the state,
but in the history of the war, and almost ranks in
importance with the battle of Gettysburg or the
capture of Vicksburg. The nomination of Val-
landigham, on the 11th of June, was a defiant
challenge to the war sentiment of the state, and
nothing more was wanting to force a campaign of
unwonted heat and bitterness. As the adminis-
tration of Governor Tod had been efficient and
fairly popular, his renomination had been ex-
pected ; but while the Democratic convention with
furious enthusiasm was nominating Vallandigham,
John Brough was addressing a mass meeting at
Marietta, in a speech of great force, in favor of a
determined and relentless prosecution of the war.
In years past he had been a powerful Democratic
leader. He was widely known for his integrity
and ability in public affairs, and, having been out
of politics for fifteen years, was free from the
jealousies and animosities which gather about an

OHIO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION . 385

active public career. He at once became a popu-
lar favorite, and when the Republican convention
met, June 17th, he had a handsome majority of
the delegates. The convention declared for the
prosecution of the war, and refused to consider
any other question. Within three weeks after
these nominations, the victories at Gettysburg,
Vicksburg, and Helena had carried the war past
the critical point. The nation watched the con-
test in Ohio with intense interest. The result
was a surprise to all. Brough had a majority in
the home vote of 61,920 and in the soldier vote of
39,179, or a total of 101,099. The magnitude of
the vote was no less suggestive. The Democratic
vote had increased over the vote of the previous
year by more than three thousand, and the Re-
publican vote had increased almost 110,000, a
total increase of 113,000. Probably not one half
the soldiers voted, and yet the total vote of
475,868 was many thousands larger than any pre-
vious poll, and was not again equalled until the
election of 1867.

During the winter of 1863-64 the reenlistment
of veterans took place. Since their term had be-
gun in 1861, it would end in 1864. More than
20,000 of them again responded to their country’s
call and enlisted for the war. Each veteran regi-
ment was granted a furlough for thirty days as
soon as reorganized. Returning to their homes
in every part of the state, they became the heroes
of the hour. Their example shamed the lag-

386

OHIO.

gards, encouraged the hopeful, and stimulated
volunteering.

From the outbreak of the war, the want of an
efficient military organization had been severely
felt, but the immediate demand for men in the
national armies had absorbed every energy of the
state authorities. At the session of January, 1863,
a law was enacted requiring the organization of
the entire militia of the state, to be known as the
Ohio Militia, with another and more select or-
ganization, to be armed, equipped, and made ready
for military duty, to be called the Ohio Volunteer
Militia. At the close of Governor Tod’s adminis-
tration, the organized militia numbered 167,572,
and the volunteer militia 43,930. In addition
to the time given to drill, these volunteers had
borne the expense of their own uniforms, at a
cost of nearly $350,000. The retiring governor
had the satisfaction of reporting that the state
stood armed for her own defense, and had com-
plied with every demand of the national govern-
ment, having furnished 200,671 men.

Governor Brough was inaugurated January 11,
1864. In his address he discussed but one theme,
and interpreted the recent election as merely the
expression of the people not to “ negotiate with
rebels in arms, or admit anything from them but
unconditional surrender and submission.” He
urgently recommended a more liberal public pro-
vision for the families of soldiers. He deprecated
the dependence upon private charity as placing

OHIO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 387

an undue burden upon the liberal and patriotic,
not honorable to the state, and offensive and hu-
miliating to the soldiers. A law enacted in 1862
had required a levy of three fourths of a mill in
the dollar for this purpose. The governor recom-
mended three mills, and expressed his personal
preference for a levy of four mills. The legisla-
ture, more cautious than the governor, fixed it at
two mills, with power to the county commission-
ers to increase to three mills, and to city councils
to add another half mill. As the assessed value
of taxable property for 1864 was slightly in
excess of one thousand million dollars, it will be
seen that the state was not giving relief with a
niggard hand. With increased needs, private
liberality also increased. It is not possible to
state the amount thus freely contributed ; for
charity vaunteth not itself. However, a few or-
ganizations for distributing the gifts of the people
necessarily kept records and rendered accounts.
Chief among these were the Cincinnati and Cleve-
land branches of the United States Sanitary Com-
mission, which reported cash contributions of
nearly a half million dollars, and supplies to
a much larger amount. So generally was the
vast work of receiving and distributing done gra-
tuitously, that but one and a half per cent, of the
contributions was expended between the giver and
the receiver. Such a result was possible only be-
cause the telegraph lines and all common carriers
were free to the use of the Sanitary Commission,

388

OHIO.

and many of the agents of the state gave their
services without compensation. Soldiers’ Homes
were maintained at Cincinnati, Columbus, and
Cleveland, where more than two hundred thou-
sand soldiers, first and last, were comfortably
lodged and fed. The work of relief was not dis-
continued until the refluent waves of war had set-
tled to the calm level of peace. Nor was the work
limited to Ohio soldiers. It embraced impartially
all who served their country, and even her sick
and wounded enemies. It was not a ministry for
the state, but for a cause, and for humanity.

The governor, by personal attention and through
the various executive agencies, supervised and en-
forced the proper use of relief funds raised by
taxation, not neglecting, however, the application
of the people’s voluntary gifts. From the first it
was evident that he was to impress his powerful
personality upon the history of the state. In-
tensely in earnest, and of surpassing powers of
endurance, he was unsparing of himself and of
others. Indifferent to criticism and even abuse,
he could not understand the sensitiveness which
shrinks from savage reproof, or flames into indig-
nation at blunt and unqualified denunciation.
With a mind at once quick and comprehensive,
and endowed with dauntless courage, he rarely
failed to detect an error, never avoided a collision,
and always spoke without refinement of phrase,
or “ meal in the mouth.” In his public duties,
Robert Morris was not more disinterested, Samuel
Adams was not more zealous.

OHIO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION 389

The system of recruiting by volunteers and
bounties, with the draft held as a threat, con-
tinued with swiftly increasing evils. Governor
Brough denounced it as a confession of weakness
discreditable to the government, as an appeal to
cupidity and not to patriotism, and warned the
authorities and the public that enormous local
debts were thereby growing up, to be a burden if
paid, and a shame and calamity if repudiated.
“The state swarmed with bounty-jumpers, boun-
ty-brokers, and mercenaries of every description,”
and while the real soldiers received no propor-
tionate assistance from all this profligate expen-
diture, their noble service was discredited by
enforced association with disreputable methods
and hireling comrades. But other states held to
volunteering, the draft had been rendered unpopu-
lar, and the authorities at Washington were re-
luctant to apply force. The governor gained
nothing by his vigorous effort except the vindi-
cation of his own courage and judgment.

With a view to ending this ruinous drain upon
the people, Governor Brough devised the plan for
adding a large reinforcement to the armies during
the critical period of the campaign of 1864. At
the beginning of his administration, measures
had been taken to secure a more efficient organ-
ization of the militia. A bill drafted by Adju-
tant-General Cowen, with the assistance of Colo-
nels L. A. Harris and John M. Connell, was
promptly passed by the general assembly. The

390

OHIO.

name of the Volunteer Militia was changed to
the “ National Guard,” and ample provision was
made for all the necessary expenses of that or-
ganization by the collection of a commutation
fee of four dollars per annum from each citizen
of the state who was subject to military duty, and
not a member of the guard or in the military ser-
vice of the United States. The law went into
effect immediately, and in a very short time the
National Guard of Ohio became the best or most
efficient military organization that any state pos-
sessed. This was soon demonstrated.

Upon Governor Brough’s invitation, a confer-
ence of governors was held at Washington, and
at its close, on the 21st of April, a tender signed
by the governors of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and
Iowa was made to the President, offering 85,000
soldiers for one hundred days’ service; Ohio to
furnish 30,000, Indiana and Illinois 20,000 each,
Iowa 10,000, and Wisconsin 5,000. The offer
was accepted April 23d, and on the same day
Governor Brough telegraphed Adjutant-General
B. R. Co wen to issue the necessary orders and
put the machinery in motion. The adjutant-
general was distinguished for executive ability,
calm judgment, and resolute purpose. The order
appeared in all the daily newspapers Monday
morning, April 25th, commanding the National
Guard to assemble May 2d, the place of rendez-
vous for each regiment to be fixed by the com-
mander.

OHIO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 391

Notwithstanding the time appointed was the
opening season of business, particularly of agri«
cultural activity, the adjutant-general, on the
second day of May, at six o’clock P. M., astounded
the War Department with the despatch, “ More
than thirty thousand National Guards are in
camp, ready for muster ; ” and at half past seven
o’clock the reports from regimental commanders
showed more than thirty-eight thousand. The
War Department was taken aback, no adequate
arrangements having been made for mustering
such a multitude. Many members of these regi-
ments had already entered the military service,
and some organizations were thus reduced below
the minimum, making consolidation necessary.
All difficulties, however, were overcome, and on
the 18th of May Governor Brough telegraphed
the Secretary of War : “Ohio has sent four regi-
ments to Baltimore, two to Cumberland, thirteen
to Washington and a fourteenth to leave to-night,
three to Parkersburgh, four to Charleston, three
to New Creek, three to Harper’s Ferry ; has sta-
tioned one regiment at Gallipolis, two at Camp
Dennison, two at Camp Chase, and two regiments
and a battery at Johnson’s Island, being forty
regiments and one battalion.” The whole work
had been done within sixteen days.

The service performed by these regiments was
not nominal. They guarded the prisons at John-
son’s Island and Camp Chase, protected the Bal-
timore and Ohio Railroad, held the gateway to

392

OHIO.

western Virginia, and occupied the defenses of
Baltimore and Washington. They formed the
bulk of the army with which General Lew Wal-
lace stubbornly resisted Early’s advance upon the
national capital. Some of them served in the
campaign in the Shenandoah valley against Jubal
Early, and others were at 44 the front ” along the
James River. Their losses were heavy, and some
of them starved and died at Andersonville. For
the time, they took the place of the same number
of veteran troops.

During his administration Governor Tod had
made promotions without any fixed rule, some-
times by seniority, sometimes disregarding rank
in deference to supposed fitness. Characteristi-
cally, Governor Brough, by an order issued Feb-
ruary 6, 1864, announced that all promotions
would be by seniority in rank, except when
drunkenness was proved ; that opinions of com-
manding officers would not be regarded ; and
that incompetency and inefficiency must be dealt
with, not by tolerating them in subordinate posi-
tions, but by driving them out of the army. His
theory seemed to be, that if an officer was good
enough to remain in the service he was good
enough to receive promotion in due order, and if
not fit for promotion he was not fit to remain in
the army. The rule was distasteful to regimental
commands, and led to much acrimonious corre-
spondence.

The governor, with his accustomed energy and

OHIO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 398

fearlessness, and often with utter disregard of
military order and discipline, hunted out and rep-
rimanded shirks, with but little care for their feel-
ings. His agents were everywhere, and he gave
ready ear to complaints that came from them or
from private soldiers, a practice that easily de-
generated into meddling, and led to insubordi-
nation. In a few months he was engaged in a
widespread controversy with army officers. They
often were violent and disrespectful, and he never
failed to hold his own in the vigor and asperity of
his replies. He failed to see the distinction be-
tween the state and the United States service,
and, unmindful that no man can serve two mas-
ters, insisted that every Ohio soldier was under
his paternal care, and that every volunteer officer
from his state was at all times liable to be called
to account to him. As a necessary consequence,
almost the entire army influence was leagued
against him in a common quarrel. Some officers
were dismissed from the service for disrespect
shown him, for he was not a man in any wise to
be rashly attacked or resisted. There was no
way, however, for his enemies to reach him but
to wait for his halting, which never came, or to
thwart his ambition, for which no opportunity
was given ; for he had declined a renomination,
and died on the 29th of August, 1865, half a
year before his term expired. He was succeeded
by Lieutenant-Governor Charles Anderson. Six
weeks after the death of Governor Brough, Major-

394

OHIO.

General Jacob D. Cox, the most distinguished
Ohio soldier who went into the war without mili-
tary education or experience, was nominated as
governor.

In another campaign, had Governor Brough
survived, the discontent and altercations between
him and the officers in the field would probably
have forced the national government to take the
organization of state troops generally into their
own hands. These and similar misconceptions in
other states, and the great mischief, not to say
danger, incurred by the service, all point to the
importance of speedy legislation by Congress,
while experienced officers are living to aid in
framing it, by which the militia of the states
shall be organized, trained, and disciplined under
the general and uniform system contemplated
and provided for in the Constitution and in time
of peace. Fortifications are not more important,
either for war or insurrection. By such forecast
the United States will not again be subjected to
a waste of hundreds of millions of dollars in ex-
temporizing a hasty system out of nothing.

Prior to January 1, 1864, the Ohio infantry
regiments, from the 1st to the 128th, and all the
cavalry and artillery organizations, had been sent
to the field. All these, as well as the recruits from
time to time sent to repair the waste of war, were
enlisted for three years. The regiments from the
130th to the 172d, inclusive, were the one hun-
dred days’ reinforcement, made up of the National

OHIO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 395

Guard. Those from the 173d to the 197th were
enlisted for one year, in 1864 and early in 1865,
when it was expected that the rebellion would
soon be subdued. Eleven of these regiments,
from the 173d to 183d, were completed during
1864, and the others were rapidly filled up early
in 1865. It had been confidently expected that
the campaign of 1864 would end the war, but the
country was amazed at the tenacity of the enemy
after it was evident that no rational hope of suc-
cess remained. The work of recruiting went
steadily on, the last regiment having left the state
a week after the surrender at Appomattox.

In August, 1864, the governor, in announcing
arrangements for the second draft, had startled
the public with a serious warning not to engage
in any attempt at forcible resistance. Through
detectives he had discovered a secret, oath-bound
society, akin to the “ Knights of the Golden Cir-
cle,” which had been the controlling power in
dragging some of the states into rebellion. As
stated in the report of the adjutant-general, it
numbered from eighty to one hundred and ten
thousand members. It is not to be credited that
such a number of citizens were consciously plot-
ting rebellion and bloodshed. The vast majority,
doubtless, were dupes, led into lodges through
ignorance, or party zeal, or a desire for novelty.
The authorities, however, took efficient precau-
tions, and before the time fixed for the draft the
National Guards returned to their homes, all bear-

396

OHIO.

ing their arms, and all in a spirit not lightly to
be ruffled. Not a ripple disturbed the surface of
society where the draft took place.

In this limited sketch no attempt can be made
to trace the career of Ohio officers and soldiers
beyond the confines of the state. On their entry
into the national service they ceased to belong to
Ohio. But it belongs to the history of the state
to say that the most distinguished officers of the
army were of Ohio birth or training, or both.
The list includes Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, Mc-
Pherson, Buell, Rosecrans, McDowell, Gilmore,
Cox, besides many distinguished commanders of
divisions and army corps. Ohio was hardly less
conspicuous in the councils of the nation. She
gave three members to the cabinet. In the Sen-
ate, Wade and Sherman were second to none in
courage and position as statesmen. In the House
of Representatives were Bingham, Shellabarger,
Ashley, Schenck, Garfield, and Horton on the side
of the administration ; and Pendleton, S. S. Cox,
and Vallandigham in the opposition : no state pre-
sented a stronger array than this. No better
proof could be added of the worth of the pioneer
stock of Ohio than that so many of their sons rose
to leadership in the great crisis of the country’s
history. It is proof not only of inherited quali-
ties, but of conscientious family training, the best
characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race.

These distinguished leaders were exponents of
a people of like character and training, who gave

OHIO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION. 397

them prominence and sustained them by suffrage
and sacrifice. In the unnamed mass, incapable of
being singled out because of their numbers, there
were also heroes and leaders. They it was who
filled the ranks of the army, and kept their state
a creditor and never a debtor upon any demand
for men. It was they who moved in continuous
column to the front until the rebellion was sup-
pressed. They were called upon for 306,322 men ;
they responded with 319,659, and furnished more
than a tenth of the entire army that vindicated
the national power.

Ohio and her authorities, legislative and execu-
tive, kept pace with events throughout the war.
The whole power of the state was at all times
exerted to sustain the government. She exhibited
no provincial jealousies or quibbles, and higgled
at no price. She stood upon no constitutional
precedents or refinements. Her motto was, Sup-
pression of the rebellion first, everything else
afterward. In giving her soldiers the right to
participate in the elections while absent in the
field, she allowed the utmost stretch of law, and
indeed exceeded the line of safety, but it was that
they might feel they were still her sons. Her pro-
vision for their families, also, was bountiful. She
established soldiers’ homes. Her agents were in
every hospital, in every army and camp. They
distributed her bounty ; they acted in lieu of
banks of exchange in sending the soldier’s pay
to his family ; they watched for his coming at
every available point.

398

OHIO.

Her soldiers formed part of every army,
marched in every campaign, fought in every im-
portant battle from Bull Run to Bentonville, from
Sabine Cross Roads to Gettysburg. Twenty-nine
regiments and ten batteries were at the siege and
capture of Vicksburg. Thirty-five regiments of
infantry, three of cavalry, and seven batteries of
artillery were in the Army of the Cumberland
when it fought its way from Stone River to At-
lanta. Nine regiments of infantry, two of cav-
alry, and a battery of artillery marched and
fought under Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley.
Forty-five regiments of infantry and two batteries
of artillery were with Sherman in the Carolinas.
Thirty-two regiments of infantry, seven batteries
of artillery, and a regiment of cavalry helped at
Nashville to finish the rebellion in the Missis-
sippi valley. Forty-three of her regiments of
infantry stormed Missionary Ridge. Twelve regi-
ments of infantry, one of cavalry, and four bat-
teries of artillery were on the decisive field of
Gettysburg, and fifteen of her veteran regiments
were in the army that assembled in Texas, after
the collapse of the rebellion, for the ostensible
purpose of admonishing a refractory people, but
really to expedite the departure of the French
intruders from Mexico.

The alacrity of the soldiers, and the energy of
the authorities, in the final disbanding of the
great army, has excited the wonder of the world.
Before the close of the year of the total sur-

OHIO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION . 399

render, all but eight of the Ohio organizations
had disappeared. In June and July, 1866, the
25th Infantry, Battery B of the First Artillery,
and the 11th Cavalry, were mustered out of the
service, the last of Ohio’s volunteer army.

Exact numbers in stating the loss of 'life in
the war will never be obtained, but approxima-
tions may now be made. Of the soldiers of
Ohio, twelve thousand were killed or mortally
wounded, one half left dead on the battlefield.
According to the usual ratio, at least forty thou-
sand must have received wounds in action. Over
thirteen thousand died of disease in the service,
and more than twenty thousand were discharged
on account of disability.

During the entire war the orderly movements
of society were not interrupted, and, consider-
ing the withdrawal of so much available labor,
the disturbance of productive industries was sur-
prisingly small. There was a diminution of the
acreage under cultivation, and of the produce of
agriculture, but not at all in proportion to the
numbers of laborers withdrawn to war. The
product of manufacturing industries did not di-
minish even during the years of war, and during
that decade it was doubled, showing the same
proportional increase as during the previous de-
cade. The increased population and the applica-
tion of improved machinery had made up for the
labor subtracted.

The public schools went on as regularly as in

400

OHIO.

times of peace. The churches continued their
service of worship and moral training, and power-
fully aided in the great work. The courts held
their sessions uninterruptedly. Less than twenty
arbitrary arrests under extreme provocation sum
up the departure from that due process of law
which is so dear and vital to a free people. The
colleges and institutions of higher learning,
though depleted by their contribution of teach-
ers and students to the army, kept open their
doors and carried forward their work term by
term. All this, with the sacrifices made for a
great cause, the concern felt for those afar off,
and the remote consequences, the habitual con-
templation and discussion of these great interests
and themes, added depth and seriousness to the
character of the people, that will be felt far into
the future.

CHAPTER XV.

OHIO SINCE THE CIVIL WAR.

The history of Ohio since the close of the Civil
War has been that of a profound economic and
social transformation difficult to conceive and still
more difficult to describe except through the
medium of bare statistics. In the first place the
population, which in 1860 numbered 2,839,511,
and covered the area of the state with a moderate
density of 57 to the square mile, had increased by
1900 to 4,157,545, and raised the density of settle-
ment to 102 to the mile. This alone meant a
greater concentration in living, and entailed all
the consequences of increased demands for land,
for food and building materials, and for transpor-
tation. But mere increase in numbers was not
the only cause of change, for the four millions of
1900 made their living in ways very different
from those which prevailed forty years before.
In the Ohio of 1860 agriculture was the great
source of individual wealth, and grazing and wool
growing came next; but in the Ohio of 1900
manufactures and mining overshadowed agricul-
ture, steam and electric railways had invaded
every corner of the state, and cities blackened

402

OHIO .

the air of nearly every county with their smoke.
The typical “ farmer” state of 1860 had become
one of the leading industrial communities in North
America. This mighty change seemed to pro-
gress visibly during the periods of prosperity ;
then, with financial depression, as in 1873-77 or
1893-96, to move more sluggishly; but whether
fast or slow there was no turning back ; by the
census of 1900 it had become evident that the
Ohio of the first half century was a vanished com-
munity.

In 1860 Ohio stood second in the amount of
cereals raised, second in horses and cattle, and
first in wool. Manufactures at that time em-
ployed only 75,000 men, in a total of 11,000 estab-
lishments with a capital of 57 millions, and most
of these were limited to local and domestic mar-
kets. Cities were small, there being only six with
over 8000 population, only three over 20,000, and
only one, Cincinnati, over 100,000. In a popula-
tion of two and a third millions only one ninth
lived in cities ; the farmer was the typical figure,
dominating society and politics.

The decade containing the Civil War saw the
beginning of the great change. In those years
railways began to be pushed across the state with
vigor, until by 1871 over three thousand miles
were constructed. Simultaneously and partly as
a result of the railway extension the coal meas-
ures of the eastern parts of the state began to
be opened up ; the iron of Pennsylvania, and later

OHIO SINCE THE CIVIL WAR.

403

of Lake Superior, began to be brought to meet
the Ohio coal ; and iron and steel manufacturing
spread from city to city. All other manufactures
felt the stimulus and rushed into production, the
number of establishments doubling in a decade,
the employees rising to 137,000, and the value of
the output more than doubling. In the panic of
1873, this first over-enthusiastic rush of Ohio
capital into railways and manufactures paid the
penalty of too great optimism and too little cau-
tion. In that fatal year and during a long period
of subsequent “ hard times ” railway earnings de-
creased, until bankruptcies followed, manufactures
were idle or failed, and it seemed as if all industry
had come to an indefinite suspension of activity.
But from this relapse Ohio rose again with vigor
in the years after 1878, and although hindered by
another epoch of financial stringency after 1893,
did not cease its progress nor experience any
severe mishaps. Railways, coal, and iron gave
the direction of development throughout.

A picturesque episode in the steady industrial
development of the state came about in 1885 to
1888 through the dramatic discovery of natural
gas in Hancock and Allen counties, which created
a temporary craze for its use as fuel and led to
the discovery of other supplies in many localities
in western and central Ohio. For a time the
apparently inexhaustible quantities of gas, and its
free donation by enthusiastic and shortsighted
municipalities to manufacturing plants, led to the

404

OHIO.

mushroom growth of cities in gas districts; but the
rapid diminution of the gas supply after a brief
ten years of activity showed that the new fuel was
not destined to supplant coal or petroleum, and
except for lighting and heating purposes its use
was generally abandoned by the end of the cen-
tury. The real prosperity of Ohio’s manufactures
rested on the coal measures.

By the opening of the twentieth century Ohio
had become one of the leading manufacturing
states in the Union, fifth as to the total value of
its output, fourth in boots and shoes, second in
iron and steel, first in clay products. Ohio manu-
factures were sent over the United States and
exported through the civilized and uncivilized
world. Over nine thousand miles of railway cov-
ered the state like a network, carrying the coal
of the southeastern regions to every corner, and
gathering the products of every city or solitary
factor y. The 75,000 employees of 1860 had in-
creased to 345,000 in 1900, and the proportion of
persons engaged in trade, transportation, and
manufactures had grown from one third to nearly
one half of the total number engaged in remu-
nerative pursuits.

By the side of this great industrial development
agriculture failed to hold its own. The staple
crops, it is true, increased enormously, more than
doubling in every branch since 1860 ; but while
they doubled, manufactures had increased seven-
fold, and in addition new agricultural and grazing

OHIO SINCE THE CIVIL WAR. 405

states had been opened up in the West which
challenged Ohio’s prominence. By 1900 Ohio
was no longer second, but seventh, as a grain-
producing state. Cattle-raising showed still more
clearly the altered economic interests, for although
for a time after the war flocks and herds contin-
ued to increase, there came sooner or later for
all of them a stationary period and then retro-
gression. The sheep of 1900 were not so numer-
ous as the sheep of 1870, the cattle, horses, and
swine of 1900 showed a decline from ten years
before, and wool, once the great staple of Ohio
prosperity, fell off in quantity almost year by
year. The competition of the extreme West and
the new states of the plains, and the increasing
returns from manufactures, had had their effect ;
the proportion of persons engaged in agriculture
fell from 36 per cent, to 26 per cent. Ohio was
no longer a farmer state.

The change in industrial interests showed itself
unmistakably in the distribution of population.
Of the two and a third millions of 1860 scarcely
one ninth lived in cities, a lower proportion than
held good in the United States as a whole; but
of the four and a sixth millions of 1900 nearly
two fifths were urban, a considerably higher pro-
portion than the country at large had reached.
In place of six cities only, with more than 8000
population, there were thirty-eight ; in place of one
over 100,000 there were four, and two of these,
Cleveland and Cincinnati, were seventh and tenth

406

OHIO.

respectively among the cities of the land. Every-
where near mines, near points of railway concen-
tration, near harbors on the shore of Lake Erie, —
in all places where coal and iron could be brought
together, cities had sprung up, crowded with fac-
tories black with soot and buzzing with machin-
ery. On the other hand, the censuses from 1880
onward showed that while the state grew steadily
in population, the corn-growing and sheep-raising
counties stood still or declined. Their noon was
past. Henceforward Ohio showed the same marks
of economic maturity as her older sisters to the
eastward, and looked forward to the twentieth
century as destined to add continually to her
wealth through manufacturing rather than agri-
cultural growth.

The real history of Ohio is to be sought in the
field of business, of manufactures, and of railways,
for beside their great development the politics or
public life of the state has been of slight moment.
The interests of the men of the era since the Civil
War have been mainly engrossed with the won-
derful industrial expansion, and public affairs have
had to adjust themselves to the altered situation.
Govern mentally the history of the state is con-
servative beyond precedent, since the Constitution
of 1851, drawn up for a race of farmers, continued
in operation throughout the century, — one of the
very few in the country to exist for so long a time.
In 1873-74 a constitutional convention, — led by
many of Ohio’s ablest and most practical men,

OHIO SINCE THE CIVIL WAR.

407

labored with great thoroughness to perfect a more
modern instrument; but the conservative voters
in the ill-temper of the year of hard times, 1874,
rejected the draft by an overwhelming majority.
Of amendments since attempted nearly all have
failed, owing to the provision requiring a majority
of votes cast at the election to secure ratification,
the result being that the neglect to register an
opinion was equivalent to a negative vote.

The conduct of the state administration has
been of a similarly conservative character. The
Civil War debt was reduced steadily to a merely
nominal sum, and the receipts and expenses, in
spite of the great growth of the state in wealth,
have been steadily kept below the Civil War
figures, except when another war in 1898 caused
a temporary increase. While school and univer-
sity funds have been maintained and enlarged,
new fields of expenditure have not been sought,
the policy of the state, in good democratic fashion,
having been to leave them for the local units.
Nor have these, it must be admitted, been slow to
occupy the field, for local indebtedness, which as
early as 1872 stood at 20 millions, had surpassed
50 millions thirty years later. At the height of
the railway craze preceding the panic of 1873,
the legislature passed an act authorizing counties
and municipalities to build and operate railways,
under whose terms no less than ninety towns
bonded themselves for that purpose. The supreme
court, however, intervened to declare the act un-

408

OHIO.

constitutional, thereby preventing a reckless spec-
ulation.

Legislation during the two generations after
the Civil War centred about industrial and eco-
nomic matters. Every session of the legislature
— annual until 1895, but since then biennial, in
tardy fulfillment of the purpose of the constitution
of 1851 — was productive of bills concerning cor-
porations, imposing restrictions and defining pow-
ers, and of acts adding to the supervisory and
administrative powers of state and local officials.
The existence of state commissioners of railways
and telegraphs and of insurance, state inspectors
of building and loan associations, of mines, of
factories, of oils, and of foods, boards of examiners
for medical, veterinary, and dental registration
testified to the extent to which the state has been
driven slowly to recognize new problems. The
other interests of the state received increased
attention with the increasing population and the
growing complexity of modern industrial life.
Asylums, hospitals, and penal institutions were
subjects of continual legislation, hardly a session
passed without alterations in the school laws, and
during the whole of this period the amount of
special municipal legislation grew in bulk year
by year. The provision of the constitution for-
bidding special laws for municipal corporations
was evaded by applying a system of classification
which was subjected to continual subdivisions,
until in its last estate nearly every one of the

OHIO SINCE THE CIVIL WAR.

409

larger cities of the state was the sole occupant of
a class or grade, and hence the sole beneficiary of
“ general ” legislation for that grade. This trans-
parent device permitted unlimited legislative in-
terference with city charters, offices, powers, and
finances ; but the whole scheme received a death-
blow when in 1902 the state supreme court,
nerving itself to reverse a long line of previous
decisions, declared the classification system uncon-
stitutional and forced the legislature to enact a
general code, applicable in the words of the consti-
tution to “ cities and incorporated villages,” and
restricting “ their power of taxation, assessment,
borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning
their credit, so as to prevent the abuse of such
power.”

The action of the supreme court in this affair
illustrates the general tendency in judicial history
since the Civil War. For twenty years the Ohio
judiciary adhered to a broad construction of the
constitution and abstained as far as possible from
decisions adverse to the validity of laws. Their atti-
tude is shown by a case in 1877, when the supreme
court practically disclaimed the power to decide
whether an act was or was not local in character,
holding that the legislature, confined by the con-
stitution to general laws, was itself the judge as
to whether any law it passed was general or not.
But in the last fifteen years of the century a dif-
ferent spirit appeared ; the court began to construe
more strictly the provisions of the constitution,

410

OHIO .

and as a consequence to invalidate laws with con-
siderable frequence. This involved the reversal
of previous decisions, but the court did not flinch.
In 1887, for instance, it asserted its right and
duty, heretofore disclaimed, to declare a law in-
valid if not passed in due constitutional form.
In 1896 it reasserted its right to judge of the
general or local character of a law by its contents,
upsetting a series of previous precedents, and in
1902, as has been mentioned, it struck down the
whole system of municipal legislation. In 1895
and 1896 it even went so far as to declare laws
void on the ground that they violated, not some
specific clause of the constitution, but its general
spirit. This increasing rigor of the Ohio judiciary
failed to evoke any public disapproval, but tended
rather to call forth applause ; for it fell in with the
growing popular desire to restrict legislation, and
the increasing popular impatience with legislative
interference with business. The court stood for-
ward at the century’s end as never before in the
character of guardian of the fundamental law.

The large number of statutes overthrown by
judicial decisions certainly indicates a reckless
quality in Ohio legislation during the years suc-
ceeding the Civil War. Ohio law-making showed
the same features as did that of other states, —
an honest endeavor, in the main, to deal with new
problems, hampered by a great deal of inexperience
and shortsightedness on the part of the legislators,
and varied by occasional jobbery and frequent

OHIO SINCE THE CIVIL WAR. 411

rank political partisanship. On the whole, how-
ever, the legislative and governmental activity of
the state was not the subject of political contests
or political interests. The votes and debates on
nearly all measures have been without regard to
party.

This situation did not prevent Ohio from be-
ing preeminent in the Union for the keenness of
its party feeling and the warmth of its electoral
struggles. This was due to several facts. In the
first place the position of Ohio was such as to
give it an importance in national politics since the
Civil War equaled by scarcely any other state in
the country. Not only did the numbers of its
population give it weight in the electoral college,
but its character, at once agricultural and in-
creasingly industrial, made it the easternmost of
the Western states and placed it at the meeting
point of the political tendencies of the agricultural
West and the manufacturing East. Further, the
accidental fact that Ohio held its state election
for governor the year before the presidential elec-
tion, and in the presidential year cast its ballots
for minor state offices in October, one month
before the federal election, raised it to the im-
portance of a political weather-gauge. The vote
in Ohio was supposed to indicate conclusively the
tendencies in the Union at large, and the result
was that the two great political parties concen-
trated their efforts upon the Ohio elections to an
unequaled degree. After twenty years of this

412

OHIO.

extreme pressure the voters of the state sought
relief by changing the election day to November,
but although the state fortunately lost the charac-
ter of weather-gauge its real political weight was
undiminished.

The result of this political prominence has been
the existence of two very bitterly opposed party
organizations in the state, struggling at every
election with never fading rancor. For about
eighteen years, from 1865 to 1893, their relations
remained fairly constant. The Republicans con-
trolled the larger maximum vote, and in presi-
dential elections could be reasonably sure of suc-
cess ; but the Democrats, in 44 off years ” or on local
issues, ran a chance of occasionally electing gov-
ernors, carrying legislatures, and choosing United
States senators. During these eighteen years the
Democratic party was a 64 hard times party,” al-
most invariably winning in years of depression,
as 1873, 1874, 1877, 1883, and 1889, and as inva-
riably being decisively beaten in years of agricul-
tural and industrial prosperity. During the entire
period the party representing the aspirations of a
farming community manifested a tendency to de-
nounce capitalists and to advocate currency expan-
sion. From 1868 to 1876 its demand for paper
money and taxation of government bonds was so
consistent that the inflation movement was com-
monly known as 44 the Ohio idea.” After that the
party became an adherent first of bimetallism
and later of free silver coinage, a position it main-

OHIO SINCE THE CIVIL WAR .

413

tained into the twentieth century. The Republi-
cans, no less dependent at first upon an agricul-
tural constituency, but at the same time bound by
the ties of party to a conservative Eastern wing,
showed a tendency to vacillate and advocate half-
way measures ; but while anxious at all times to
attract inflationist votes, they remained always
more cautious than their Democratic rivals. On
the tariff both parties occupied for years a moder-
ate position, the Democrats advocating low duties,
the Republicans a revenue tariff with incidental
protection. Later, as the manufacturing interests
of the state grew into importance, the Republi-
cans became more decided in favor of protection,
and at the same time appealed for rural support
by a vigorous advocacy of high duties on wool.
Finally, in the last decade of the century the two
parties came to join issue squarely, the Democrats
adhering to their demands for free coinage and a
low tariff, while the Republicans, shifting with the
altered interests of the state, grew steadily firmer
in opposition to silver inflation and increasingly
vigorous in advocacy of protection. The results of
this change showed that the new economic devel-
opment of the state had worked to the profit of
the Republicans. The Democrats, beaten in 1893
during a panic year, failed to recover as on pre-
vious occasions, and steadily remained for the
next ten years in a hopeless minority. The indus-
trial development of Ohio had apparently brought
about a permanent change in the balance of politi-
cal parties.

414

OHIO.

The importance of Ohio in the electoral college,
and its character as Western state and political
weather-gauge, led the Republican party to nomi-
nate presidential candidates with a special view
to gaining the Ohio vote by calling forth state
pride, — the upshot being that Ohio contributed,
after the Civil War, no less than five presidents.
Grant and Harrison were born in Ohio, although
not residents of the state at the time of their elec-
tion, and Hayes, Garfield, and McKinley were ac-
tive political leaders there. In fact, Ohio seemed
to have taken the place once held by Virginia as
the “ mother of presidents.’’ But Ohio’s place in
federal politics was by no means a mere accident
of locality and population, for no state furnished
a greater number of real political leaders during
the years after the Civil War, men whose actual
abilities made them prominent in Senate, House,
Cabinet, and judiciary. To mention only the few
most eminent names, there were among Republi-
can senators Wade and Sherman, both men of the
first order, the latter having served also with bril-
liant success as Secretary of the Treasury, and
among the Democratic Senators, Thurman and
Pendleton. In the House of Representatives, it
is enough to name Garfield and McKinley, each
of whom, after long service, attained the presi-
dency. In the Cabinet a long list of able men,
from Stanton, Secretary of War during the Recon-
struction period, and Cox in Grant’s first Cabinet,
to W. R. Day, Secretary of State at the end of

OHIO SINCE THE CIVIL WAR.

415

the century, showed the political weight of Ohio,
while in the Supreme Court three associate jus-
tices and two chief justices, Chase and Waite,
indicated Ohio’s impress on the judicial depart-
ment. With such men as these guiding national
affairs it is not too much to say that the real politi-
cal history of Ohio is to be sought in the domain
of the federal government since the Civil War.

Owing to the predominance of national or purely
partisan issues, the details of party fluctuations in
Ohio are not a vital part of the development of
the state. Bitter as party feeling was it seldom
concerned state policy as such, but centred on
matters connected with federal politics. In 1867,
for instance, in the height of the Reconstruction
struggle, the Democrats carried the legislature,
rejected the fifteenth amendment, and attempted
to rescind the ratification by the state of the
fourteenth amendment. In the bitterness of the
contest, they also tried to mark their opposition
to negro suffrage by passing the famous “ visible
admixture ” law, designed to render impossible the
voting of mulattoes in Ohio, but this was declared
unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and re-
pealed by the next legislature. Another frequent
source of angry struggles was the districting of
the state for congressional elections. Each party
passed acts, or repealed acts passed by the other
party, with the express purpose of “ gerrymander-
ing” the state, on several occasions. At times
the senatorial elections also resulted in partisan

416

OHIO.

wrangling. In 1886, the Republicans, who con-
trolled the House, unseated ten Democrats, which
led the Democrats, who held a precarious majority
in the Senate, and felt their chances uncertain, to
attempt the device of preventing an election by
breaking a quorum. The Democratic senators not
only left the Capitol, but abandoned the state,
hoping in this way to block all action, but the
Republican senators admitted four contestants,
secured a quorum, and triumphantly reelected
Sherman.

Apart from such struggles, arising from the con-
nection of state with national politics, the princi-
pal local issue which has disturbed Ohio has been
the temperance question. In 1874 this suddenly
assumed importance through the outbreak of a
woman’s crusade, carried on vigorously by singing
and praying, for a number of months, until the
impetus finally wore out. From this time a steady
growth developed, principally in the country dis-
tricts, of sentiment favorable to the enactment of
prohibitory or restrictive laws. In 1882 the matter
became a party issue through the action of a Re-
publican legislature in passing a liquor tax act.
This was declared unconstitutional the same year,
but the German vote in alarm swung to the Demo-
cratic side. The next year the legislature enacted
the “ Scott law,” intended to regulate liquor-sell-
ing and bring in a revenue. This was at first
held constitutional by the court, but in 1884 it
was declared partly unconstitutional, leaving the

OHIO SINCE THE CIVIL WAR.

417

Republican programme in confusion. The De-
mocrats had profited by the situation to carry the
legislature in 1883, and for two years no legisla-
tion was attempted. In 1885, however, the “ Scott
law ” having been finally wiped out by the courts,
the two parties divided squarely on the liquor ques-
tion, the Republicans adhering to a tax scheme,
the Democrats calling for a constitutional amend-
ment, — notoriously difficult of attainment, — but
this time the Republicans won, passed the “ Dow
law,” which ran the gauntlet of the courts in
safety, and so ended the controversy.

Party struggles were obscured when, at the cen-
tury’s end, Ohio was called upon for the first time
in two generations to contribute men for the de-
fense of the country. When President McKinley
issued his call for volunteers in the war with Spain,
on April 25, 1898, the National Guard of Ohio
had been to a considerable extent prepared for
the emergency by the administration of Governor
Bushnell, and the Ohio regiments entered the fed-
eral service, keeping their organizations as a rule
unchanged. Two of them served in Cuba, one,
the 8th, being among those transported to Mon-
tauk Point after the tropical heat had threatened
to decimate their ranks. Another regiment, the
4th, served in Porto Rico, and escaped with less
serious consequences than those experienced by
its fellows in Cuba. In all no less than 237 men
lost their lives during the bloodless service of
these volunteer regiments, 72 of them from the

418

OHIO.

8th regiment in Cuba, 45 from the other two
regiments which saw service, and the rest in the
disease-stricken camps on the mainland.

Ohio’s share in this brief war was certainly
creditable to the patriotism of the people, and
still more to the efficiency of the state adminis-
tration. But the war excitement arose and blew
over like a thunder-squall in July, and the state
returned to its normal life of peaceful industry,
showing scarcely any effects from the brief period
of tension.

The twentieth century opened for Ohio a long
prospect of industrial progress and prosperity.
True, the state had not solved all problems, —
educational unity was by no means attained, tax
reform continued to be vigorously demanded, mu-
nicipal organization and corporation regulation
were by no means to the satisfaction of all indi-
viduals ; but the people of the state were them-
selves the assailants of the state’s weak points
and the agitators for reforms. The state in its
transition from an agricultural to a manufacturing
community had retained the traditions of an active
public life, and added to the rural simplicity of
former days the keen desire for material perfection
which develops in a prosperous industrial society.
No commonwealth in the Union commanded a
fairer prospect or could face the future with greater
confidence than Ohio, “ the first fruits of the Ordi-
nance of 1787,” on the completion of its centennial
as a state.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX No. L

(See pp. 101, 102.)

EXTRACTS FROM THE TREATY OF PARIS AND THE
KING’S PROCLAMATION IN 1763.

I.

Treaty of Paris. “ Article 4. His Most Christian
Majesty (France) cedes and guarantees to his Britannic
Majesty, in full right, Canada with all its dependencies.
His Britannic Majesty, on his side, agrees to grant the
liberty of the Catholic religion to the inhabitants of
Canada ; he will consequently give the most precise and
the most effectual orders that his new Roman Catholic
subjects may profess the worship of their religion accord-
ing to the rites of the Romish Church, as far as the law-s
of Great Britain permit. His Britannic Majesty fur-
ther agrees that the French inhabitants or others who
had been subject to the Most Christian King, in Canada,
may retire with all safety and freedom wherever they
shall think proper ; the term limited for this emigration
shall be fixed to the space of eighteen months from the
exchange of ratifications of this treaty.

“ Article 7. In order to reestablish peace on solid
foundations, and to remove forever all subject of dispute

420

APPENDIX.

with regard to the limits of the British and French ter-
ritories on the continent of America, it is agreed that
for the future the confines between the dominions of
his Britannic Majesty and those of his Most Christian
Majesty in that part of the world shall be fixed, irrevo-
cably, by a line drawn along the middle of the river
Mississippi from its source to the river Iberville, and
from thence by a line drawn along the middle of this
river and the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the
sea. . . . Provided that the navigation of the river
Mississippi shall be equally free as well to the subjects
of Great Britain as to those of France in its whole
breadth and length from its source to the sea. The
stipulations inserted in the \th Article in favor of the
inhabitants of Canada shall also take place with regard
to the inhabitants of the countries ceded by this article.”

The King’s Proclamation, October 7, 1763, “ tak-
ing into consideration the extensive and valuable acqui-
sition in America secured to the crown by the late defini-
tive treaty of peace concluded at Paris, February 10,
1763,” declared and established three new governments,
styled Quebec, East Florida, and West Florida. After
describing the bounds of each of these government's, and
the powers and duties of their governors and authori-
ties, the proclamation proceeded to deal with the Western
territory in the following terms, literally as set forth in
its text : —

“ And whereas it is just and reasonable, and essential to
Our Interest and the Security of Our Colonies, that the sev-
eral Nations or Tribes of Indians with whom We are con-
nected, and who live under Our Protection, should not be
molested or disturbed in the Possession of such Parts of

APPENDIX.

421

Our Dominions and Territories as not having been ceded to
or purchased by Us, are reserved to them or any of them as
their Hunting Grounds, We do therefore, with the Advice of
Our Privy Council, declare it to be Our Royal Will and
Pleasure, that no Governor or Commander in Chief in any
of Our Colonies of Quebeck, East Florida, or West Florida,
do presume, upon any Pretence whatever, to grant Warrants
of Survey, or pass any Patents for Lands beyond the Bounds
of their respective Governments, as described in their Com-
mission ; as also that no Governor or Commander in Chief
in any of Our other Colonies or Plantations in America do
presume for the present, and until Our further Pleasure be
known, to grant Warrant of Survey, or pass Patents for any
Lands beyond the Heads or Sources of any of the Rivers
which fall into the Atlantick Ocean from the West and
North-West ; or upon any Lands whatever which, not hav-
ing been ceded to or purchased by Us as aforesaid, are re-
served to the said Indians, or any of them.

“ And we do further declare it to be Our Royal Will and
Pleasure, for the Present as aforesaid, to reserve under Our
Sovereignty, Protection, and Dominion, for the Use of the
said Indians, all the Lands and Territories not included
within the Limits of Our said Three new Governments, or
within the Limits of the Territory granted to the Hudson’s
Bay Company ; as also all the Lands and Territories lying
to the Westward of the Sources of the Rivers which fall
into the Sea from the West and North-West as aforesaid ;
and We do hereby strictly forbid, on Pain of Our Displeas-
ure, all Our loving Subjects from making any Purchases or
Settlements whatever, or taking Possession of any of the
Lands above reserved, without Our especial Leave and
Licence for that Purpose first obtained.

“ And We do further strictly enjoyn and require all Per-
sons whatever, who have either wilfully or inadvertently
seated themselves upon any Lands within the Countries
above described, or upon any other Lands which, not having
been ceded to or purchased by Us, are still reserved to the

422

APPENDIX.

said Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to remove themselves
from such settlements.’ 7

General Gage’s Proclamation on December
30, 1764. “ His Majesty grants to the inhabitants of

the Illinois the liberty of the Catholic religion as it has
already been granted to his subjects in Canada. He has
consequently given the most precise and effective orders
to the end that his new Homan Catholic subjects of
the Illinois may exercise the worship of their religion
according to the rites of the Romish Church in the same
manner as in Canada.

“ His Majesty, moreover, agrees that the French in-
habitants, or others who may have been subjects of the
Most Christian King, may retire in full safety and free-
dom wherever they please. Those who choose to retain
their lands and become subjects of his Majesty shall
enjoy the same rights and privileges, the same security
for their persons and effects, and the liberty of trade, as
the old subjects of the King.”

APPENDIX No. II.

(See pp. 161-189.)

Mr. Dane’s statements as to the authorship of the Or-
dinance of 1787, though of the highest authority, have
been almost inaccessible and therefore overlooked. To
supply the want in some degree, they are here annexed.

i.

In a letter to Rufus King, July 16, 1787, three days
after the Ordinance was passed, he said : —

“ When I drew the Ordinance (which passed, a few words
excepted, as I originally formed it) I had no idea the states

APPENDIX.

423

would agree to the sixth article, prohibiting slavery, as only
Massachusetts of the Eastern States was present, and there-
fore omitted it in the draft. But finding the House favor-
ably disposed on this subject, after we had completed the
other parts, I moved this article, which was agreed to with-
out opposition/ *

II.

Later in life Mr. Dane compiled a work in nine
volumes, known as “ Dane’s Abridgment,” being a gen-
eral abridgment or digest of the laws of all the states.
The volumes were published from year to year as they
were completed, and are now almost out of print.

In the seventh volume, issued in 1824, he referred
(page 389) to the Ordinance of 1787 in connection with
Massachusetts law, and incidentally said : “ This Ordi-
nance, formed by the author of this work, was framed
mainly from the laws of Massachusetts, especially in
regard to land titles, and as to them contains the follow-
ing clauses,” etc.

hi.

But in his ninth volume, published in the year 1830,
and after the great debates in the Senate on Foote’s
resolutions, Mr. Dane, evidently disturbed by the ver-
sions put upon the Ordinance by Senators Benton and
Hayne, became more explicit, and in an appendix added
the following note (Appendix, pp. 74-76), which is given
entire : —

“ As, after the lapse of 43 years, some for the first time
claim the Ordinance of July 13, 1787, as a Virginia produc-
tion, in substance Mr. Jefferson’s, it is material to compare
it with his plan or resolve (not ordinance) of April, 1784, in
order to show how very groundless the assertion of Senator
B. is, that the Ordinance of ’87 was 4 chiefly copied 9 from

424

APPENDIX.

his plan. To those who make the comparison, not a word
need be said to refute his assertion ; on the face of them the
difference is so visible and essential. But thousands read
his speeches, extensively published, where one makes this
comparison. It is surprising, at this late day, that this claim
is made for Virginia, never made by herself.

44 As but few possess the journals of the old Congress in
which Mr. Jefferson ’s plan of ’84 and the Ordinance of ’87,
formed by the author, are recorded, it is proper here con-
cisely to point out the material difference between them. —
I. The plan of ’84 is contained in two pages and a half ;
the Ordinance of ’87 in eight pages. II. The first page in
the plan or resolve of ’84 is entirely omitted in the Ordi-
nance of ’87. III. From the remaining page and a half of
the plan there appears to be transferred to the Ordinance in
substance these provisions, to wit : 1st. ‘ The said territory,
and the states which may be formed therein, shall forever
remain a part of this confederacy of the United States of
America, subject to the Articles of Confederation.’ 2d.
4 To all the acts and ordinances of the United States in
Congress assembled, conformable thereto.’ 3d. 4 The in-
habitants and the settlers in the said territory shall be sub-
ject to pay their part of the federal debts contracted or
to be contracted, to be apportioned on them by Congress
according to the same common rule and measure by which
apportionments thereof shall be made on the other states.’
4th. 4 The legislature of those districts or new states shall
never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the
United States in Congress assembled ; nor with any regula-
tions Congress may find necessary for securing the title to
such soil to the bond fide purchasers.’ 5 th. 4 No tax shall
be imposed on lands the property of the United States.’
6th. 4 And in no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed
higher than residents.’

44 It will be observed the provisions 4,5, and 6, which some
now view as oppressive to the West, were taken from Mr.
Jefferson’s plan. . . . The residue of the Ordinance of ’87

APPENDIX .

425

consists of two descriptions, one original, as the provisions
to prevent legislature enacting laws to impair contracts pre-
viously made, — to secure to the Indians their rights and
property, — part of the titles to property made more purely
republican, and more completely divested of feudality than
any other titles in the Union were, in July, 1787. The tem-
porary organization was new ; no part of it was in the plan
of ’84. The other description was selected mainly from the
Constitution and laws of Massachusetts, as any one may see
who knows what American law was in ’87 ; as, I. Titles to
property by will, by deed, by descent, and by delivery, cited
verbatim in the seventh volume of this abridgment, pages
389, 390. Here it may be observed that titles to lands once
taking root are important, as they are usually permanent.
In this case they were planted in 400,000 square miles of
territory, and took root as was intended. II. All the funda-
mental, perpetual articles of compact (except as below), —
1st. Securing forever religious liberty ; 2d. The essential
parts of a bill of rights declaring that 1 religion, morality, and
knowledge, being necessary to good government and the
happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education
shall forever be encouraged/ These selections from the code
of Massachusetts, as also the titles to property, have created
for her an extensive and lasting influence in the West, and
of the most republican, liberal, and beneficial kind.

“ The organization, providing officers to select or make,
to decide on and execute laws, being temporary, was not
deemed an important part of the Ordinance of '87. Charles
Pinckney assisted in striking out a part of this in 1786.

“ The 6th article of compact, the slave article, is imperfectly
understood. Its history is, that in 1784 a committee, con-
sisting of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Chase, and Mr. Howell, re-
ported it as a part of the plan of 1784. This Congress
struck out ; only two members south of Pennsylvania sup-
ported it ; all north of Maryland present voted to preserve
it, so to exclude slavery. It was imperfect, first, as it
admitted slavery till the year 1800 ; second, it admitted

426

APPENDIX .

slavery in very considerable parts of the Territory forever,
as will appear on a critical examination, especially in the
parts owned for ages by French, Canadian, and other inhabi-
tants, as their property, provided for only in the Ordinance
of ’87. In this Ordinance of ’87 slavery is excluded from
the date and forever from every part of the whole ‘ territory
of the United States northwest of the river Ohio,’ over
all which the Ordinance established government.

“ The amended slave article, as it is in the Ordinance of
’87, was added on the author’s motion, but, as the journals
show, was not so reported.

“ In the said seventh volume published in 1824 full credit
is given to Mr. Jefferson and Mr. King on account of their
slave article (too limited), amended in July, ’87, by extend-
ing the Ordinance of that date, and the slave article in it,
over the whole territory, and to take effect from the date.
In 1802 the Indian article was made a fundamental part of
a Southern compact. The provision as to impairing con-
tracts was afterwards adopted into the Constitution of the
United States, also into the several state constitutions, and
after forty years’ experience into that of Virginia.

“ In the great Missouri debate in 1820, etc., one Southern
member, at least, viewed this Ordinance as a Northern
usurpation ; especially as to the six articles of compact.
Mr. B. in 1830 claims it as an honor to Virginia and Mr.
Jefferson. Colonel Carrington, of Virginia, as chairman of
the committee pro forma , reported the Ordinance, but formed
no part of it. Of late years this Ordinance has been made
a subject of particular importance as proving the authors of
it have afforded essential means in promoting the prosperity
and rapid growth of the West. It was found in the great
Missouri debate that the Southern attempt to run it down
would not do. As a Western senator said in that debate in
Congress, it had been the cloud by day and a pillar of fire
by night in settling the country ; others to the same pur-
pose. On this and some ether discoveries, this Northern
usurpation, as Charles Pinckney viewed it, is now claimed

APPENDIX.

427

as a Southern production to prove Southern friendship to
the West ; also to prove, even in ’87, the East did noth-
ing in building up the West. In this point of view the East
will not readily yield its just claim in that business, — a
claim not denied for forty years and more.

“ On the whole, if there be any praise or any blame in this
Ordinance, especially in the titles to property and in the
permanent parts, the most important of it belongs to Massa-
chusetts, as one of her members formed it and furnished the
matter with the exceptions following : First, he was assisted
in the committee of ’86, in the temporary organization, al-
most solely by Mr. C. Pinckney, who did so little he felt
himself at liberty to condemn this Ordinance in that debate.
Secondly, the author took from Mr. Jefferson’s resolve of
’84 in substance the said six provisions in the fourth article
of compact, as above stated. Thirdly, he took the words
of the slave article from Mr. King’s motion made in 1785,
and extended its operation as to time and extent of terri-
tory, as is above mentioned : as to matter, he furnished the
provisions respecting impairing contracts, and the Indian
security and some other smaller matters ; the residue, no
doubt, he selected from existing laws, etc. In regard to the
matter of this note, it is a portion of American law properly
and conveniently placed in this appendix. The particular
form of this note is in answer to many requests lately made,
by members of Congress and others, to be informed respecting
the formation, the detail, and authorship of this Ordinance,
which in forty years has so often restrained insolvent acts,
stop laws, and other improper legislation impairing con-
tracts.”

APPENDIX No. III.

(See pp. 244-247.)

The following ballad is not poetry, but in the time of
the pioneers was sung with sad emotion, and was so
popular that it is worth reproducing as a relic : —

428

APPENDIX .

SAINCL AIRE’S DEFEAT.

’Twas November the fourth, in the year of ninety-one,

We had a sore engagement near to Fort Jefferson ;
Sainclaire was our commander, which may remembered be,
For there we left nine hundred men in t ’ West’n Ter’tory.

At Bunker’s Hill and Quebeck, there many a hero fell,
Likewise at Long Island (it is I the truth can tell),

But such a dreadful carnage may I never see again
As hap’ned near St. Mary’s, upon the river plain.

Our army was attacked just as the day did dawn,

And soon were overpowered and driven from the lawn.
They killed Major Ouldham, Levin and Briggs likewise,
And horrid yells of sav’ges resounded through the skies.

Major Butler was wounded the very second fire ;

His manly bosom swell ’d with rage when forc’d to retire ;
And as he lay in anguish, nor scarcely could he see,
Exclaim’d, “ Ye hounds of hell ! Oh revenged I will be.”

We had not been long broken when General Butler found
Himself so badly wounded, was forced to quit the ground ;

“ My God ! ” says he, “ what shall we do? we’re wounded
every man ;

Go charge them, valiant heroes, and beat them if you can.”

He leaned his back against a tree, and there resigned his
breath,

And like a valiant soldier sunk in the arms of death ;

When blessed angels did await his spirit to convey,

And unto the celestial fields he quickly bent his way.

We charg’d again with courage firm, but soon again gave
ground ;

The war-whoop then redoubled, as did the foes around.

APPENDIX. 429

They killed Major Ferguson, which caused his men to cry,

“ Our only safety is in flight, or fighting here to die.”

“Stand to your guns,” says valiant Ford ; “let’s die upon
them here,

Before we let the sav’ges know we ever harbored fear ! ”

Our cannon-balls exhausted, and artilPry-men all slain,

Obliged were our musketmen the en’my to sustain.

Yet three hours more we fought them, and then were forc’d
to yield,

When three hundred warriors lay stretched upon the field.

Says Colonel Gibson to his men, uMy boys, be not dis-
mayed ;

I’m sure that true Virginians were never yet afraid.

“ Ten thousand deaths I ’d rather die than they should gain
the field ! ”

With that he got a fatal shot, which caused him to yield.

Says Major Clarke, “ My heroes, I can here no longer stand ;

We’ll strive to form in order, and retreat the best we can.”

The word “ He treat ! ” being passed around, there was a
dismal cry,

Then helter-skelter through the woods like wolves and sheep
they fly.

This well-appointed army, who but a day before

Defied and braved all danger, had like a cloud passed o’er.

Alas, the dying and wounded, how dreadful was the thought !

To the tomahawk and scalping-knife in mis’ry are brought.

Some had a thigh and some an arm broke on the field that
day,

Who writhed in torments at the stake to close the dire af-
fray.

430

APPENDIX.

To mention our brave officers, is what I wish to do ;

No sons of Mars e’er fought more brave, or with more cour-
age true.

To Captain Bradford I belonged, in his artillery,

He fell that day amongst the slain, a valiant man was he.

APPENDIX No. IV.

(See p. 333.)

The following letter of General William H. Harrison,
heretofore unpublished, contains facts of much historical
interest, particularly his tribute to Colonel Wood. It was
written during the excited political canvass in which
General Harrison and Mr. Van Buren were the oppos-
ing candidates for the Presidency.

North Bend, July 2, 1840.

Hon. Thomas Corwin.

My dear Sir : Colonel Pendleton forwarded to me by
yesterday’s mail your letter to him of the 25th ult. General
Solomon Van Rensselaer wrote a reply to Armstrong’s book
in which the general character of the work is portrayed with
great ability and the lash most unmercifully applied. As it
regards particulars, however, he only goes to the defense of
the operations on the Niagara frontier ; that is to say, as far
as his relation (the Patroon) and himself were concerned.
I should have answered it myself, but a friend in New York
advised against it, as the work had fallen dead from the
press. Indeed, I consider that the work, as far as it regarded
my conduct, was sufficiently answered by the documents to
be found in McAffee’s history of the war and in Dawson’s
work. In both of these the opinions of Colonel Wood in
favor of my whole course are quoted. And his opinion, in
the estimation of every officer who served in that war, would
have more weight than fifty Armstrongs. I heard both
General Brown and General Scott say that they thought

APPENDIX.

431

Wood the greatest military character that the late war
brought forth. Colonel Pendleton, who was the aide-de-camp
of General Gaines, informed me that such was the opinion
of that officer, and it was always decidedly mine. Wood
was with me from the commencement to the end of the
operations in the Northwest, and kept a journal in which he
made comments upon the military movements which he wit-
nessed. After the campaign of 1813, 1 gave him a furlough
for a few weeks to visit his friends in the N. E. part of New
York. There he copied the journal and deposited it in the
library at West Point where he had been educated. This
copy was borrowed by Colonel Charles Todd for the use of
Me Affee in writing the history of the war. It was intrusted
by Todd to an officer, who promised to restore it to the West
Point library, which it is supposed he did not do. In the
following year, however, Wood’s brother, knowing the
attachment which the colonel had for me, came from his
residence on Lake Champlain to visit me. He brought with
him the original rough journal of Wood, and presented it to
me. This (to me) precious document is now in my posses-
sion. I think, however, that the parts of it necessary to my
defence against Armstrong are quoted by Me Affee and
copied by Dawson.

The principal features in the campaign of 1812-13 are
the general arrangements for the campaign, the distribution
of the corps of the army for the advance to a point of con-
centration, and the measures taken previous and subsequent
to the defeat at the river Raisin. On each of these Wood
has expressed a decided opinion. In speaking of the latter
(river Raisin) it will be seen that he says in the most deci-
sive manner that nothing more could be done than was done.
The points in the campaign of 1813 that deserve particular
notice are, the general arrangements for the protection of the
frontiers and the preparations for the final advance of the
army, the first and second sieges of Fort Meigs, the attack
on Fort Stephenson (Lower Sandusky), the general order
for forming the army for march and battle, and the battle

432

APPENDIX .

itself (on the Thames). I believe that Wood has given a
distinct opinion upon each. It was upon the report made to
me by him that an entire change was made in the order of
battle at the very moment when it was about to be com-
menced in a way entirely different. I had previously under-
stood the exact position of the enemy, from the reports of
the volunteer officers. But having sent Wood to ascertain
the extent of front occupied by the British troops, his mili-
tary eye at once discovered what the others had neglected
to notice, that is, the open order in which they were drawn
up. It was on this report, which I could only credit coming
from such a man as Wood, that I immediately changed the
plan of the action, which drew forth the encomium of Perry,
who witnessed the whole transaction.

Nowit does appear to me that the opinion of Wood should
outweigh, eye-witness as he was, those of fifty men who were
not present. Governor Shelby and Commodore Perry have
also given a most favorable opinion both of the general
arrangements and the particular order of battle. The
former says that the latter gave such confidence to the
army that it could not have been defeated by more than
double its numbers. Wood says of it, that, although it was
a violation of long-established rules of war, yet he justifies it
by saying in the most complimentary way that those and
those only who perfectly understand their profession are
authorized to depart from these rules. . . .

Yours in haste, but very truly,

W. H. Harrison.

■

APPENDIX No. V.

The following paper on the gradual failure of the
grape in Ohio is from one whose long experience in
vine culture and in making the native wines, sparkling
and still, give him the highest authority on this inter-
esting subject : —

APPENDIX .

433

The Grape and its Gradual Failure in Ohio.
Culture at one time promised the State of Ohio, for
a series of years, a large revenue in the production of
grapes, but this prospect did not last for many years.
It is about fifty-five years since this noble culture was
introduced by Mr. Nicholas Longworth on a large scale.
Mr. Longworth was a large owner of land near the city
of Cincinnati, and a great amateur of the culture of the
grapevine. About the time stated above, he began to
lease out to vine-culturists a certain number of acres of
land, in which the vine-culturist had to put a given
number of acres into grapevines, with the condition that
a half of the grapes so produced were to be delivered
to Mr. Longworth’s wine-cellars, as the consideration
or rent for the land. In this way the culture of grapes
was introduced at once in the southern part of this state.
The grapes selected by Mr. Longworth, among the lim-
ited variety at that time, were the Catawba and Isabella ;
the former being an excellent grape for table-use as
well as wine-making. History tells us that this Ca-
tawba grape was first introduced by Mr. John Adlum,
of Georgetown, District of Columbia, sixty-three years
ago, and taken up by Mr. Longworth in thus recom-
mending it to his vine-dressers. He recommended both
the Catawba and the Isabella, but the former took the
lead, and the latter disappeared as a vineyard plant,
being more subject to the grape diseases than the
Catawba. This noble and excellent grape was culti-
vated with great success for years. The average yield
was about one hundred and twenty bushels per acre of
grapes, which, at fifty pounds per bushel, was equal to
five hundred gallons of rich must, containing in a favor-
able season from ninety to one hundred degrees of sao-

434

APPENDIX .

charine, with a delicate flavor and a fine fruity acid, so
well adapted for the production of sparkling wines.

This noble and so much desired grape cannot be pro-
duced any more in a paying way in the southern part
of the state, on account of the sudden changes of tem-
perature, which are owing, as it is generally thought, to
the clearing out of the forests. It is about thirty years
since the grape-crop began to fail by degrees. Persons
for a long time engaged in this culture, the close and
less close observers, agree that heavy fogs, wet atmos-
phere, changes from warm to cold, without wind, are the
causes of our different grape diseases. These observa-
tions coincide with the writing of Dr. Hales on plants
in general. He says : “ When the plant has taken up a
maximum of moisture, and the evaporation is suppressed
by a low temperature, or by continued wet weather, the
supply of food, the nutrition of the plant, ceases, the
juices stagnate and are altered; they now pass into a
state in which they become a fertile soil for microscopic
plants. When rain falls after hot weather, and is fol-
lowed by an atmosphere saturated with moisture, the
cooling due to further evaporation ceases, and the plants
are destroyed by fire-blast or scorching (in German
Sonnenbrand , literally sun-burn or sun-blight).”

If grapevines are surrounded by any of the causes
here mentioned, without wind, then the plants and fruits
are subject to our different known grape diseases ; but
each of these diseases, as the growth advances during the
season, appears in a different form, and any of them
under favorable circumstances will destroy a rich crop
of grapes in part or entirely in a few days.

In the northern part of the state, near a large body of
water like Lake Erie, land situated immediately on its

APPENDIX.

435

shores or on the islands, like Kelley’s, Put-in Bay, Mid-
dle Bass, etc., the grape culture has a little better
success than in the southern part, on account of the
temperature being more even and the winds more fre-
quent. As proof of the above observations, we might
cite California. Along the coasts of the Pacific Ocean,
where the climate is dry and no rain falls for months
during the growing season, the absorbing power being
always in action through the dryness of the atmosphere,
the even temperature is undoubtedly the reason of the
success oi grane culture in that country.

INDEX

Adams, John Quincy, quoted, 309.

Albemarle, Lord, British minister in
Paris, 69.

Algonquins, in war with the Iroquois,
34.

Andastes, conquered by the Five Na-
tions, 22, 23, 39.

Anencraos, great chief of the Iroquois,
22, 36.

Anthony, Indian convert of the Mora-
vians, 124.

Appendix, No. 1 : Extract from Treaty
of Paris, and the King’s Proclama-
tion in 1763, 401-404.

No. 2 : Mr. Dane’s statement as
to authorship of the Ordinance
of 1787, 405-409.

No. 3 : Ballad, Sainclaire’s Defeat,
410-412.

No. 4 : Letter of Gen. Wm. H.
Harrison, 412-414.

Army of United States, one regiment,
230 ; increased, 247.

Banks, insolvent, 333 ; United States
Branch, 336.

Batts, Capt. Thomas, fails to find the
Ohio in 1671, 38.

Beauharnais, Gov., arrangement with
Shawanees, 51 ; despatches of, 55, 57.

Berkeley, governor of Virginia, 38.

Bethlehem, centre of Moravian mis-
sions, 122.

Blennerhasset, house of, 304 ; busy at
Marietta, 310 ; object of expedition,
311 ; law to prevent acts of, 311 ;
flight of, at midnight, 312 ; wife of,
313.

Blue Jacket, Shawanees war-chief,
257, 266.

Bonnecamps, chaplain of De Celoron’s
expedition, 63.

Borderers, conduct of, towards In-
dians, 107.

Boundaries, between colonies and In-
dians, 98, 99, 100, 102, 103, 104;
insisted on, 173, 174 ; disputed, 356-
361.

Bouquet, a Swiss officer, saves Fort
Pitt, 88, 89 ; campaign against In-
dians, 90 ; holds council with chiefs,
91 ; fortified camp of, 92 ; rescues
captives, 93.

Braddock, Gen., commands British
forces in America, 75 ; defeated and
destroyed, 75, 76.

Bradstreet, Col., expedition of, 89 ;
blunder of, 90.

Brandt, romance concerning, 235 ; in-
vited to Philadelphia, 247 ; at Niag-
ara, 249.

British, expedition under Braddock,
75 ; declare war against France, 76 ;
posts withheld, 231; posts surren-
dered, 256.

Broadhead, Col., expedition of, 150 ;
reports of, 165, 192.

Brock, Gen., governor of Upper Can-
ada, 322; energetic action of, 325;
complete victory of, over Hull, 326,
327.

Brough, John, chosen governor, 384,
385 ; speech at inauguration, 386 ;
mistakes of, 393 ; rule of promotion,
394.

Buckeye, name given to state, 270 ;
furniture, 299.

Burnet, Jacob, author, of “Notes of
the Northwest,” 271 ; reminiscences
of, 303.

Burnside, humanely avoids fighting in
suburbs, 382.

Burr, Aaron, conspiracy of, 309 ; visit
to Ohio, 310.

Bushnell, Asa S., 417.

Butler, Gen., on the Ohio, 194 ; second
in command under St. Clair, 204.

Canada, ceded to England by treaty of
Paris, 80.

Canals, projected, 347 ; importance
of, urged by New York, 347 ; com-
missioners of, appointed, 337 ; work
on, commenced, 349 ; effect of,
350.

Captives among Indians, 25, 26; de*

438

INDEX.

livered to Col. Bouquet, 93 ; mar-
riages of, 191.

Cass, Lewis, colonel of regiment under
Hull, 321 ; not reinforced by Hull,
325.

Caughnawagas Indians in the West-
ern Reserve, 21.

Cayugas, Indians of the Five Nations,

21.

Champlain founds and fortifies Que-
bec, 34 ; error of, 34.

Chapman, John (Johnny Appleseed),
wanderer in Ohio wilderness, 26.

Charters, of seventeenth century, 29,
31, 161.

Chase, Salmon P.,415.

Chatham, Lord, vote of, 117 ; influ-
ence on Mississippi valley, 261.

Cherokees, Indians of Kentucky and
Western "Virginia, 21, 39.

Chickasaws, Indian tribe, 49.

Chillicothe, laid out, 264 ; nucleus of
Virginians, 265 ; mob at, 283 ; con-
vention, 287 ; first session of legis-
lature, 292, 294 ; capitol of hewn
logs, 297 ; Dr. Cotton’s account of,
340.

Chippewas, Indians of the Northwest,
42 ; in aid of the French, 74.

Cincinnati, inauguration of, 210 ; date
of settlement unknown, 212 ; a gar-
rison town, 214 ; description of,
214, 215 ; county seat, 240 ; seat of
government, 282, 283 ; in 1820, an
incorporated city, 343 ; alarm in,
379; threatened by Kirby Smith,
380 ; population of, 402, 405.

Clark, Col. George Rogers, donation
of land to, 170 ; efforts to raise ex-
pedition against Detroit, 173 ; at-
tacks Shawanees, 232, 233.

Cleveland, established by Connecticut
settlers, 228 ; population of, 405.

Clinton, Gov. DeWitt, at beginning of
work on Ohio Canal, 349 ; tour
through southern Ohio, 350.

Colonies, bounds of, 82 ; congress of,
at Albany, 55.

Columbia, founded by Stites, 208.

Columbus, state capital, 338; account
of, in 1815, 340.

Commission, to treat with Indian
council, 248, 249, 250.

Confederacy of Northwest, Great
council of, 247, 249, 250, 256 ;
power of, broken, 255.

Confederation, articles of, referred to
the states, 163 ; proposal of Mary-
land delegates, 163, 164; votes of
the states, 164 ; signed by Maryland,
167.

Congress, remonstrances to, from land
companies, 164 ; insists on its juris-

diction, 165, 169 ; stipulation re-
garding territory surrendered, 166,
170 ; report of committee, 167 ; de-
lusion of, as to title of Indian lands,
175; appropriates land tc French
inhabitants, 222; jurisdiction of,
290 ; enabling act of, 290, 292, 293 ;
declaration of war by, 323.

Connecticut, claim of, under charter,
167; cession by, rejected, 168; te-
nacity of, 225 ; land company, 226 ;
title to Western Reserve, 280 ; town-
ships of land company, 305.

Constitution, adopted, 290, 291 ; com-
municated to Congress, 292, 293.

Continental Congress, 115 ; opposed to
the Quebec Act, 1 17.

Cornbury, Lord, British governor at
Albany, 50.

Cornstalk, Shawanee chief, enter-
tained by the Moravians, 140.

Cotton, Dr. John, tour of, 339-342 ;
describes Chillicothe, 340 ; account
of Columbus, quoted, 340.

Councils, on the Muskingum, 91, 93 ;
on the Maumee, 95; at Detroit,
96.

Coureurs des bois, 25, 44 ; character
of, 47 ; successors to, 48.

Cox, Gen. Jacob D., nominated gov-
ernor, 394 ; in Grant’s cabinet, 414.

Crawford, Col. Wm., capture of, and
death, 158.

Croghan, George, western deputy of
Sir Wm. Johnson, 19, 57 ; efforts of,
to win Indians, 66, 67 ; excites In-
dians against the French, 69 ; com-
putes the loss in Pontiac’s war, 88 ;
embassy of, 94 ; captured at the
Wabash, 96.

Cutler, Dr. Manasseh, diary of, 187 ;
a director of Ohio Company, 195,

Dane, Nathan, author of provision
against slavery in the Ordinance of
1787, 6, 187, 188, Appendix No. 2.

Day, William R., 414.

Dayton, laid out, 264.

De Celoron, Major, expedition of,
against English traders and Indians,
60-63 ; commandant at Detroit, 65 ;
reduces Ohio tribes to submission,
71.

Delawares, a scattered tribe, 21, 54 ;
persecuted in Pennsylvania, 53 ;
oppressed by the Six Nations, 54;
treat for peace, 90 ; relations of,
with Moravians, 123, 128, 129 ; three
totems, 127 ; division in council of,
141 , 142 ; neutrality of, 143.

Democracy, American, 186.

Demoiselle, chief of the Twightwees,

INDEX . 439

head of league against French, 59,
60, 62.

De Monts, receives first grant made of
American soil, 34.

Denman, Matthias, land of, opposite
mouth of Licking, 206, 208 ; arrival
of, 210.

Dennison, Gov., appoints McClellan to
command of Ohio troops, 470 ;
cares for guarding frontiers, 371 ;
why not renominated, 374.

Denny, Major, extract from diary of,
199.

Denonville, French governor-general,
orders campaign against the Five
Nations, 43.

De Peyster, Major, commandant at
Detroit, 153 ; holds a council, 156.

De Soto, at the Mississippi, 32.

Detroit, Fort, founded by French in
1701, 45; route from Canada to
Louisiana, 46 ; Sir Wm. Johnson
present at, 86 ; how saved in Pon-
tiac’s war, 88 ; centre of control
over Indian tribes, 46, 96 ; occupancy
of, by British, 173 ; entered by
United States troops, 267 ; surrender
of, 332.

D’Iberville, report of, warning against
English, 49, 50.

Dinwiddie, Gov., sends commissioners
to treat with Indians, 70 ; letter of,
to French commander, 73; urgent
appeals of, 74 ; pledges land grants
to soldiers, 101.

Dongan, Colonel Thomas, aggressive
policy of, 42, 46.

Druyer, Peter, a Canadian in British
service, 114.

Duer, Col. Wm., secretary of Treasury
Board, 196 ; represents New York-
ers, 216 ; dealings with Ohio Com-
pany, 219, 220, 221 ; appointed
commissary, 245.

Dunmore, Lord, plan of, to invade
Ohio, 109 ; at Camp Charlotte, 110 ;
treaty of, 111.

Du Quesne, Marquis, succeeds Jon-
quiere as governor, 72.

Elliott, a Tory agent, 147 ; accompa-
nies Pomoacan against the Mora-
vians, 154 ; in council with Indians,
250.

Elsquatawa, “ the prophet,” brother
of Tecumseh, 316, 317.

English, claim of, to the trans-
Alleghany regions, 23, 24, 29, 30, 31 ;
traffic of, with Indians of the West,
48, 51, 52; colonies indifferent to
affairs on the Ohio, 74, 75.

Eries, powerful Indian tribe, 22 ;

warriors of, exterminated, 23 ; why
called Chats by French, 36.

Fifteenth Amendment, rejected, 415.

Filson, John, 209, 211.

Five Nations, Iroquois Indians, 21 ;
wars with Eries and Andastes, 22,
23, 29 ; dominion of, 23 ; conquest
to the Mississippi, 39, 40 ; invaded
by French, 43 ; surrender of title to
the English, 45.

Florida, ceded by Spain at treaty of
Paris, 80.

Fort Du Quesne, built by French, 74 ;
evacuated and blown up, 77 ; ordered
to be rebuilt, 78.

Fort Finney, treaty of, 175.

Fort Harmar, treaty of, 175, 177 ;
colony at, 230.

Fort McIntosh, treaty of, 175, 192.

Fort Pitt, rescue of, 88.

Fort Stanwix (Rome, N. Y.), treaty
of, 98, 103-106, 162, 168, 175.

Fort Washington, on the Ohio, 213 ;
at Losantiville, 240.

Fort Wayne, at head of the Maumee,
256.

France, proclaims her dominion, 61,
62; controls Ohio and the North-
west, 74; declares war with Eng-
land, 76.

Franklin, Dr., connection with land
companies, 100, 106.

French, early settlements of, in Cana-
da, 34 ; first collision with English,
58 ; memorial, 76 ; in Illinois, 83 ;
traders arrested, 94 ; trading-post
resort of malcontent Indians, 96 ;
complaint of, 116 ; on shores of Lake
Erie, 189 ; refugees deceived, 215-
222.

French Creek (Le Bceuf), Marin’s fort
at, 72.

Gage, Gen., proposal of, for bounda-
ries of colony, 100.

Galissoniere, Marquis de la, reduces
Indian outbreak, 60 ; is recalled to
France, 61.

Gallipolis, settlement of French refu-
gees, 218, 220, 222.

Gamelin, Antoine, trader, 242.

Garfield, James A., born in Ohio, 414.

Girty, Simon, sent by Lord Dunmore
to Logan, 112 ; befriends Kenton,
113 ; secret Tory agent, 147 ; leader
of party to assassinate Zeisberger,
148 ; tries to save Crawford, 159.

Gist, Captain Christopher, explores
Ohio, 19 ; sent out by Ohio Com-
pany, 65, 66, 67 ; describes the coun-
try, 68; acts as guide to Washing-
ton, 73.

440

INDEX.

Gladwin, commandant at Detroit, 88.

Glickhickan, leader of Delaware war-
riors, 124 ; joins the Moravians, 125,
129 ; reception of Wyandots, 144 ;
speech of, 145, 146; conduct when
seized -at Salem, 155.

Gnadenhiitten, burial of relics at, 159.

Goschocking, new capital of Metawat-
wes, 140; uncomfortable to the
peace party, 149.

Goshen, establishment of Moravians,
159.

Grant, Ulysses S., born in Ohio, 414.

Greenville, treaty of, 256, 257, 258 ;
never violated by Indians, 262.

Hamar, Gen. Thomas L., death of,
362.

Hamilton County, established, 240,
241.

Hamilton, Gen., leading delegate of
New York, 169.

Hamilton, Gov., letter of, to Gov.
Clinton, 63 ; imprisoned, 148.

Harmar, Gen., commandant on the
Ohio, 193 ; regiment of, comprises
whole of United States army, 230 ;
in command against the Miamis,
243 ; defeat of, 244.

Harris, Mary, Indian captive, 25.

Harrison, Benj. H., born in Ohio, 414.

Harrison, Gen. Wm. Henry, opinion
of, on works of mound-builders, 11;
discourse of, before Historical So-
ciety, 40 ; appointed secretary, 268 ;
delegate to Congress, 271 ; breaks
up siege of Fort Wayne, 329 ; com-
mander-in-chief of Northwest, 330 ;
in battle of the Thames, 333.

Hayes, Rutherford B., 414.

Heckewelder, Moravian missionary,
127 ; return of, to Moravian lands,
159 ; at Gnadenhiitten, 160.

Hillsborough, Lord, opponent of land
companies, 101, 106.

Hull, Gen. William, appointed to com-
mand Western Department, 320;
march of, to rapids of the Maumee,
321 ; incapacity of, 322-325 ; terror
of the savages, 327 ; sentence and
pardon, 328.

Hurons, chief village of, 20 ; defeat
the Iroquois, 34 ; become known as
Wyandots, 35 ; near Detroit, 46 ; at
Sandusky, 52, 59 ; border raid of,
145.

Hutchins, Thomas, a surveyor of lands,
174.

Illinois Indians, driven west by Five
Nations, 39, 40 ; drive back the Iro-
quois, 41 ; refusal of, to attack the
forces of the Five Nations, 43.

Indian eloquence, 87 ; tribes on the
Scioto, 89, 90 ; on the Wabash and
Mississippi, 94 ; captives delivered,

93 ; visitors to Moravian villages,
133, 134 ; boundary, 257, 258.

Indians (see, also, tribal names), 20,
21 ; deny English claim, 24 ; at west
end of Lake Ontario, 37 ; great as-
sembly of, at Montreal, 41 ; under
French allegiance, 45 ; exasperation
of, 69 ; lands of, 81, 82 ; consent to
British occupation of French ports,

94 ; Northwest confederacy of, 175 ;
speech sent to Congress, 176 ; danger
from, 201, 202; hatred of, to Vir-
ginians, 231 ; war with Kentuckians,
232 ; attack military on the Mus-
kingum, 235 ; treaty ratified by, 236 ;
war parties of, 242 ; purchase from,
305 ; treaties with, 306, 338.

Insolvency, general state of, 334.

Irish, in emigration to Ohio, 56.

Iron, meteoric, found in the mounds,
16, 17.

Iroquois (Five Nations) war with
Eries and Andastes, 22, 23 ; fight
on Lake Erie, 27 ; defeat by Hurons,
34 ; hostility to French, 35 ; con-
federacy humbled, 36, 41.

Jackson, President, acts as peace-
maker between Ohio and Michigan,
361.

Jefferson, praises Logan’s eloquence,
112 ; anti-slavery proposition, 163 ;
project for seventeen states, 178;
proclamation of, 309.

Joliet, first white traveler on Lake
Erie, 37.

Johnson, Col. Richard M., in com-
mand of mounted brigade, 332 ;
fight of, with Indians, 334.

Johnson, Sir William, English colo-
nial agent, 23 ; superintendent of
Indian affairs, 57 ; journeys to De-
troit, 85, 86; accepts gift of land,
97 ; speech of, at conference, 99 ;
connected with land companies, 100 ;
the king’s representative, 103 ; sin-
gular apology of, 105 ; censured by
Lord Hillsborough, 108.

Joncaire, French partisan leader, 50 ;
furnishes arms to Indians, 54 ; re-
ports to Beauharnais, 55, 57 ; plots
to cut off Washington, 73.

Jones, Rev. David, visits Shoenbrun,
134 ; among Shawanees, 135 ; quoted,
191, 192.

Jonquiere, succeeds Galissoniere as
governor, 65.

Judges, territorial, 238, 239 ; ap-
pointed, 294; discharged, 314.

Jury, right of trial by, 314.

INDEX.

441

Kaskaskias, British post captured by
Virginian troops, 163.

Kenton, Simon, captured by Shawa-
nees, 113, 114 ; sent to Detroit, 115.

Kentucky, suffering in, 230 ; inclined
to rebellion, 372; occupied by Gen.
Bragg, 380.

Kickapoos, Indians, in the Ohio coun-
try, 21 ; captors of Col. Croghan, 95.

Killbuck, Delaware Indian, friendly
to Moravians, 136, 137 ; seeks safety
at Pittsburgh, 149.

Knox, Secretary of War, 244, 245.

Lafayette, praises Ohio, 345 ; passage
in Tour Qf, quoted, 351.

Lake Chautauqua, 2.

Lake Erie, alleged battle on, 27 ; mo-
nopoly on, 356.

Lancaster, disgraceful scene at treaty
of, 70.

Land companies, suppressed by the
war, 97 ; receive new impulse, 100 ;
exertions of, in London, 106; re-
monstrances to Congress, 164, 168.

Lands, military claimants of, 101 ;
strife over, 164-168 ; title to, through
Six Nations, 165, 167 ; given by Con-
gress, 355, 356.

La Salle, Sieur de, expedition of, to
discover the Ohio, 37, 38 ; effects
combination against the Iroquois,
41.

Laws, issued in writing, 237, 239.

Le Boeuf (French Creek), Marin’s fort
at, 72.

Lee, Thomas, president of Virginia
council, 63.

Lewis, Gen., attacked by Indians, 110.

Lichtenau, Moravian settlement, 140,
141, 142 ; visit of Wyandots, 144 ; ,
abandoned by mission, 148.

Little Turtle, Miami chief, who defeats
St. Clair, 246 ; assaults stockade
fort, 253 ; speeches of, 257, 259, 260.

Logan, a Mingo warrior, speech of, at
Camp Charlotte, 112 ; saves Kenton,
114.

Longueil, French commandant at De-
troit, 60.

Loramie, Peter, the trading-post of, es-
tablished, 96 ; rendezvous of hostile
Indians, 233.

Loskiel, Moravian bishop, visit of, 159.

Losantiville, settlement opposite the
mouth of the Licking, 211 ; name
changed to Cincinnati, 214.

Loudoun, Lord, mismanagement of, 76.

Ludlow, Israel, chief surveyor of Mi-
ami associates, 210, 211.

Madison, leading member of Virginia
delegation, 168 ; aided by influence

of New York, 169 ; councils and me-
diation of, 169 ; chairman of com-
mittee, 171.

Malartie, Count, officer in St. Clair’s
campaign, 223; letter to St. Clair,
224.

Marietta, claim of, incorrect, 119;
name of, 198 ; fortification at, 198 ;
emigrants to, 200; mill-wheel in
river at, 299 ; vessels from, 308.

Marin, commands force sent by Du
Quesne, 72 ; death of, 73.

Marquette, Father, discovers the Up-
per Mississippi, 37.

Maryland, declaration of legislature,
164 ; signs articles of confederation,
167.

Mason, Stevens Thompson, acting gov-
ernor of Michigan, 360 ; orders out
militia, 361.

Massacre of Christian Indians, 157.

Mastodon, bones of, 18, 19, 20.

May, Col. John, earliest journalist of
colony at Marietta, 199 ; reminis-
cences of, 201.

McArthur, Col. Duncan, commands
regiment from Scioto valley, 323;
captures military supplies, 324 ; sent
to the Maumee, 327 ; occupies De-
troit, 332.

McClellan, George B., appointed to
command of United States armies,
370 ; extreme caution of, 371.

McClung, Col. D. W., 368, note.

McCook, Major Daniel, killed in skir-
mish, 383; sons of, fall in battles
during the war, 383.

McKee, deputy Indian agent, inhuman-
ity of, 147, 148 ; causes trouble to
Moravians, 152, 153 ; a mischief-
maker, 250, 256 ; house of, de-
stroyed, 255.

McKinley, Wm., born in Ohio, 414.

Meigs, Gov., calls for volunteers, 321.

Mexico, war with, 361.

Miamis (Twightwees), 21 ; driven be-
yond Mississippi, 39 ; country of,
40, 41 ; enter Ohio under French
protection, 45 ; fort of, 46 ; delega-
tion to British governor, 50 ; with-
draw from French, 52, 57 ; capture
French fort, 59; decide in council
against French, 67 ; fail of aid from
English, 71, 86 ; confederacy of,
humbled, 74 ; procure release of
Croghan, 95 ; at head of Maumee
River, 243, 244; country of, de-
scribed, 260.

Miamis Valley, attractions of, 202,
203 ; grant of, 204. *

Michigan, surrendered by English,
266 ; in Wayne County, 267 ; omitted
from delegation, 286 ; conflict with

442

INDEX.

Ohiq as to boundary, 356 ; territory
of, declared subject to disposal of
Congress, 357 ; arrogance of, 360,
361 ; admitted as a state, 361.

Military Bounty lands, laid out, 263.

Militia, measures for organizing, 385 ;
legislation concerning, needed, 394.

Mingoes (Senecas), 20 ; outlaws of the
Five Nations, 21 ; punished by Major
Crawford, 112.

Minnesota, sixth state within confines
of Northwest Territory, 181.

Mississippi Land Company, composed
of Virginians, 106.

Mississippi River, 32 ; upper waters
discovered by Joliet and Marquette,
37 ; free navigation of, claimed,
173.

Mohawks profess neutrality, 326.

Mohicans, Lenni-Lenape Indians, 122,
123.

Montour, Andrew, Canadian half-
breed, 50, 66.

Moravians, accompany the Delawares,
54 ; missions on Muskingum de-
stroyed, 108 ; plant first settlements
in Ohio, 119 ; origin of, 120 ; tenets,
121 ; missionaries, 122, 123 ; opposed
to war, 125 ; naturalized as Dela-
wares, 126; removed to Ohio, 129,
130, 131 ; government and policy,
132 ; church, 132 ; style of preach-
ing, 137 ; mission villages of, 140,
149, 155 ; influence on Indians, 143,
144 ; the “ Pilgrims ” of Ohio, 160.

Morgan, John, movements of, in Ken-
tucky, 379 ; invades Ohio, 382 ;
march of, a race for safety, 382 ; de-
feat of, 383.

Mounds, without a history, 10 ; nu-
merous in Ohio, 11, 12 ; purpose of,
12 ; antiquity, 13 ; contents, 14, 15,
16, 17.

Muskingum, town of Wyandots, 66 ;
lands on, 140, 195 ; settlements on,
192 ; emigrants to, 200 ; capital of
the Northwest, 234.

Natural gas, discovery of, 403.

Negro suffrage, “ visible admixture ”
law, 415.

Netawatwes, head chief of Delawares,
127, 139, 142 ; death, 143.

Newalike, forsakes Moravians, 142.

New York, patriotic example of, 165;
cession of territory, 167.

Nicolas, chief of Huron conspiracy,
59 ; departs to far west, 60.

Northwest Territory, status of, 163 ;
British posts in, 163 ; to be formed
into states, 170 ; government of, in-
stalled, 199, 234 ; military pests in,
230 ; division of, 275, 276, 277, 283.

Ohio Canal, work on, commenced,

349.

Ohio Company, formed, 63 ; object of,
64 ; merged in Walpole Company,
107 ; for purchase and settlement of
western lands, 195 ; domains of, en-
larged, 196, 216 ; sale to Scioto Com-
pany, 220, 221.

Ohio River, 2 ; failure of efforts to
discover, 37, 38 ; contest for trade
on, 58 ; English traders on, busy
and defiant, 65; importance of its
possession, 78, 79; entry on lands
beyond, prohibited, 164 ; jurisdiction
over waters of, 172 ; ordinance for
surveying west of, 174 ; the beautiful
river, 190 ; great flood in, 212 ; north
of, hostile, 230, 231 ; warfare on
banks of, 233 ; the boundary line,
250, 251.

Ohio territory and state, area of, 1 ;
hills, 2, 3 ; rivers, 4 ; at first settle-
ment, 4, 5 ; slavery in, 6 ; public
lands, 6, 7 ; phenomenal growth, 7,
8 ; early emigration to, 28 ; part of
trans- Alleghany wilds, 29 ; history
obscure at beginning of eighteenth
century, 44 ; occupation of, by In-
dian tribes, 45 ; first white popula-
tion French, 46 ; character of earli-
est settlers, 47 ; French posts, 48 ;
primary stratum of Anglo-Saxon
life, 56; inception of her history,
61 ; first map of boundaries, 63 ;
glimpse of, 68, 69 ; wholly in posses-
sion of French, 74 ; domain of,
vested in English king, 83, 84 ; plan
for invasion of, 109 ; transferred to
connection with Canada, 117 ; no
civil magistrates, 118 ; first Mora-
vian settlement, 119; first church,
131 ; matters from 1774 until 1795,
152 ; difference of manners and cus-
toms, in different quarters, 171 ;
never a dependency of Vincennes,
172 ; beginning of land system, 174 ;
proof of wisdom of prohibition of
slavery, 180; contest with Michi-
gan, 184 ; earliest account of, 189,
190 ; farms in, 191 ; abundance and
fruitfulness of, 201 ; from 1787 to
1796, 224; opened to emigrants,
263 ; last of Indian wars, 266 ; last
buffalo killed, 26G ; first public sale
of lands, 266 ; earliest internal im-
provement, 267, 268 ; census, 269 ;
first assembly at Cincinnati, 270,
271, 272 ; settlers from Connecticut,
226, 227 ; struggle to set aside the
plan of the ordinance, 281, 282, 284 ;
the Scioto not a proper boundary,
285 ; convention authorized, 287 ;
why the Buckeye state, 270 ; slavery

INDEX.

443

in, disallowed, 272 ; counties of,
269, 272, 273, 276, 281 ; weakness in
form of government, 291 ; first ses-
sion of legislature, 292, 293 ; became
a state, 295, 339; immigrants, 296;
hardships of , 297, 298,299; primeval
conditions, 300, 301, 303, 304;

schools, 302, 303; new counties,
305; lands, 305; traffic, 307, 308;
first essay in war, 320, 321; panic,
328, 329; last invasion of, 331; rec-
ords wanting, 334; debts of, 334,
335 ; character of emigration to, 344,
345; trade hazardous, 346; growth
and prosperity, 350; literary and
scientific culture, 354, 355; bound-
ary question, 356-361 ; quota in war
with Mexico, 362; change of opin-
ion with regard to slavery, 363, 364,
365; benevolent institutions, 366;
war legislation, 368, 369 ; volunteers,
367 ; menaced by states in rebellion,
371; soldiers furnished, 372, 373,
377, 386, 397; special relief sent,
376; the draft, 378, 379, 395; inva-
sion under Morgan, 382, 383; polit-
ical campaign of 1863, 384; militia,
386; law for provision for soldiers’
families, 387, 388; recruiting system,
389; National Guard, 390; distin-
guished officers, 396; conspicuous
statesmen, 396 ; throughout the
war, 397, 398, 399; economic and
social transformation since the Civil
War, 401-406; increase of popula-
tion, 402, 405; industrial develop-
ment, 402^405 ; discovery of natural
gas, 403 ; decline of agriculture, 404,
405 ; conservative government, 406,

407 ; legislation since the Civil War,

408 ; judicial history since the Civil
War, 409, 410; political prominence,
411, 412; “the Ohio Idea,” 412;
political parties and struggles, 412,
413, 415, 416 ; liquor tax act, and
“ Scott law,” 416, 417 ; “ Dow law,”
417 ; in the Spanish War, 417, 418.

Oldmixon, earliest historian of the
colonies, 49.

Onondaga, Indian speaker at confer-
ence, 99.

Ordinance of 1787, for government of
Northwest Territory, 180-188 ; with
regard to new states, 184 ; a master-
piece and model, 181, 182 ; two im-
portant articles of, 185, 186 ; author-
ship of, 187 ; the settlers’ guide,
262.

Ottawas, 21 ; move eastward, 41 ;
under French allegiance, 45, 46, 65 ;
quarrel with Miamis, 50 ; at council,
67 ; kill and devour Miami chief,
71 ; constant to the French, 74, 88.

Ouiatanons (Weas), a clan of the
Miami nation, 21, 55.

Pachgantschihilas, a Delaware war
chief, advice of, 151.

Paint Creek, encounter at, 265.

Pakanke, chief of clan of Delawares,
124 ; opposes Moravians, 125 ; is
conciliated, 126.

Parsons, Samuel H. , 193 ; director in
Ohio Co., 195, 196 ; prefers Scioto
to Muskingum, 200.

Patterson, Col. Robert, 208.

Peace secured, 263.

Pearls, in the mounds, 14, 17 ; in the
Little Miami, 17.

Pendleton, George H., 414.

Pennsylvania, road through, to Ohio,
56 ; lands ceded to, 104, 105.

Pennsylvanians, 3 ; sent to France as
spies, 69 ; farms of, in Ohio, 263.

Perry, Commodore, on Lake Erie,
331.

Piankeshaws, a tribe of Miamis, 67;
king of, angry with Ottawa speaker,
67 ; king, killed and devoured by
Ottawas, 71.

Pioneers, struggles of, 296, 298 ; food
of, 298, 299 ; furniture and clothing,
299 ; festivities, 300, 301 ; camp-
meetings, 301 ; sufferings from sick-
ness, 308.

Pipe, Capt., leader of Delaware war-
party, 138; town of, centre of dis-
affected Indians, 142 ; influence in
council, 148 ; departs to Wyandots,
149 ; at Salem, with Pomoacan,
154 ; at Detroit with missionaries
before the governor, 156, 157 ; later
days of, 198.

Pitt, William, prime minister in Great
Britain, 77 ; letter of, on capture of
Fort Du Quesne, 78 ; influence on
Mississippi Valley, 261.

Pittsburgh Landing, relief sent to
battlefield of, 376.

Pomoacan, Wyandot chief, 143 ; cove-
nants with Moravians, 144, 145 ; hos-
tile expedition of, 153, 154.

Pontiac, chief of the Ottawas, 85, 86 ;
genius and work of, 88 ; reconciled
to English, 95 ; speech of, 96.

Post, Christian Frederick, Journal of,
quoted, 56 ; pioneer of Moravians
on the Muskingum, 127.

Pottawatomies, Indians of the North-
west, 41.

Pownall, Gov., English colonial agent,
23,24.

Proclamation by English government,
81, 82, 83. .

Proctor, Gen., failures of, at Fort
Meigs, 333.

444

INDEX.

Public lands, ordinance for survey-
ing, 174 ; Indian title necessary,
174; grants of, 194 ; purchase of,
195; sale of, 266, 279; sold on
credit, 334.

Putnam, Gen. Rufus, director in Ohio
Company, 195 ; leader of company
of settlers, 197, 198 ; surveyor-gen-
eral, 263.

Quebec Act, effects of, 115, 116, 117.

Randolph, John, defends prohibition
of slavery, 180.

Resolution, at a meeting of officers on
the Ohio, 111.

Rittenhouse, special geographer of
Pennsylvania, 174.

Rivers, traffic on, 307, 308.

Road, the national, 307 ; crossing-
place on the Ohio at Wheeling, 307.

Salem, Moravian settlement at, 149;
last service at, 156.

Salt Springs, appropriated by whites,
191.

Sandusky, expedition to, under Craw-
ford, 158; river, 189, 190.

Schools, foundation of, 302 ; lands of,
squandered, 347 ; commissioners au-
thorized, 348 ; inequality in, 352 ;
hostility to, 352 ; table of studies
pursued in, 353, 354.

Scioto Company, frauds of, 197, 215,
216, 217.

Scioto River, proposed for boundary,
285.

Scott, Gen., governor of Kentucky,
329.

Senecas, most westerly and most nu-
merous of the Five Nations, 21, 23 ;
mission among, 35 ; plan of attack
on, 43 ; persistent hostility of, 108.

Senators, chosen, 294.

Shawanees, on the Scioto, 21, 22, 94;
claim to be a southern people, 27 ;
contests of, with Five Nations, 39,
40, 41 ; enter Ohio under French
protection, 45 ; on the Wabash, 51 ;
movements of, 53, 54, 55 ; open the
way for traders, 55, 56 ; treat for
peace, 90 ; meet Bouquet in council,
93 ; in council with Sir Wm. John-
son, 99 ; bold assertion of, 100 ; lead
in wars on the Ohio, 107, 108 ; at
Camp Charlotte, 110; attend Mora-
vian preaching, 130 ; are more re-
fractory, 135; visit Gnadenhutten,
140 ; encampment of, 211 ; raid of,
266.

Sherman, John, 414.

Sherman, Taylor, contribution of, to
history of Ohio, 305, 306.

Shoenbrun, seat of Moravian mission,
129, 131, 136 ; abandoned, 142.

Simcoe, British governor, entertains
commissioners at Niagara, 249 ;
erects fort, 251 ; plots of, 256.

Sioux, tribes of, against the Hurons,
35.

Six Nations (see Tuscaroras), 21, 55;
complaint of, 56 ; at treaty of Lan-
caster, 70; conference with, 98;
resolve as to boundaries, 104, 105 ;
chiefs of, 247, 249, 250.

Slavery, prohibition of, 179, 180;
article in Ordinance, 185 ; tacit tol-
erance of, 354 ; changes in struggle
concerning, 365.

Smith, Capt. James, captured by In-
dians, 26; pictures Ohio tribes, 194.

Smith, Capt. John, 31.

Smith, Robert, a trader, 19.

Spain, pretensions of, 32, 33.

Spies, employed by Gen. Wayne, 253.

Spottswood, Gov., 31; despatches of,
47 ; plan proposed by, 64.

Squatters, from the Potomac, 101, 102;
west of the Ohio, 193, 194.

Stanton, Edwin M., 414.

States, in Northwest Territory, 170,
178.

Stations, on the Ohio and Miami, 215.

St. Clair, Gen. Arthur, letter of, to
President, 177 ; governor of North-
west Territory, 196, 229, 230 ; report
of, 217 ; inaugurates government,
234 ; attempts to conciliate Indians,
235, 236; law-making of, 237, 238;
instructions of, from Congress, 239,
240 ; settles land claims on the Wa-
bash and Mississippi, 240, 241 ; pre-
pares expedition against Miamis,
243 ; appointed to the command,
244; terrible defeat of, 245, 246 ; at
meeting of first assembly, 271,
272 ; responsible for discord, 274 ;
project for dividing the Territory,
275, 276, 277 ; speech at Chillicothe,
278; movement of, to disturb the
plan of the Ordinance, 284 ; speech
of, 288 ; public career ended, 288 ;
persecution of, 289 ; characteristics
of, 289, 290.

Steamboats, on the Ohio, 318; on
Lake Erie, 319.

Stites, Benjamin, discovers valley of
the Miami rivers, 202; fortifies a
town (Columbia) on the Little Mi-
ami, 208.

St. Pierre, in command of French at
Le Boeuf, 73.

Stuart, John, superintendent of In-
dian affairs at the South, 102.

Symmes, John Cleves, petitions Con-
gress for land grant, 204 ; covenant

INDEX.

445

and prospectus of, 205 ; mismanage-
ment of, 206 ; prevents attack on
Indians, 211 ; letter to Secretary of
War, 213; appointed judge, 219 ; at
Marietta, 238.

Tanacharisson, a chief of the Senecas,
72, 73.

Taylor, Gen. Zachary, occupies left
bank of Rio Grande, 361, 362.

Tecumseh, acquiring importance, 316;
anecdote of, 316 ; plans to drive
whites across the Ohio, 317 ; con-
flicts of, with Gen. Hull, 327 ; in
command of large force of Indians,
333 ; death of, 334.

Tennessee River, the way of traders
to the Ohio and the Mississippi, 49.

Texas, annexation of , 361, 363.

Thomson, Charles, account of Dela-
ware exodus by, 53.

Thurman, Allen G., 414.

Tod, David, elected governor, 375 ;
calls for volunteers, 378 ; efficient
administration of, 384 ; system of
promotion, 392.

Tomahawk titles to lands in Ohio, 191.

Tonti, lieutenant of La Salle, 41, 43.

Traders, up the Great Lakes, 42 ; of
Southern colonies, 49, 51 ; of Penn-
sylvania, 55, 56 ; English, in Ohio,
51 ; arrested by the French, 65 ; bad
character of, 126, 127 ; married to
Indian captives, 191.

Treasury Board, powers of, 195,

Treaty of Paris, provisions of, 78, 80.

Tuscaroras, incorporated with Five
Nations, 21, 54.

Twightwees, clans of the Miamis, 21,
40 ; strong town of, 67 ; king of, 67,
71 ; at council on the Maumee, 96.

United Brethren, name assumed by
Moravians, 120, 128.

United States, successor to the crown
domain, 171 ; title of, to lands north
of the Ohio, 172 ; title to lands in
Western Reserve, 280.

Vaudreuil, Gov., despatch of, 51.

Vincennes, Sieur de, sent to regain
control over Miamis, dies, 51.

Vincennes, British post, captured by
Virginian troops, 163.

Virginia, 30; as affected by plan of
Walpole Company, 100 ; by treaty
of Fort Stanwix, 104 ; convention
of, adopt constitution, 161 ; extent
of, 162 ; manifesto of, 161, 162 ; stat-
ute passed in 1779, 164 ; position of,
with regard to western territory,
165, 166, 168 ; compromise accepted
by, 169 ; title of, not admitted, 170 ;

military district in Ohio conceded
to soldiers, 170 ; special claim of, to
concessions, 172 ; no conquests by,
east of the Wabash, 173.

Virginians (squatters), excite Indian
hostility, 101, 102; entry of lands
on military warrants, 224.

Volney, visit of, to Gallipolis, 223.

Wabash, tribes on, 94, 95.

Wade, Benjamin F., 414.

Waite, Morrison R., 415.

Wakatamica, Shawanees town (now
Dresden), 92, 130.

Walpole Company, 97 ; revival of, 100 ;
grant to, 106.

Washington County, established, 234.

Washington, George, envoy to French
at Le Boeuf, 73 ; letter of, 74 ; colo-
nel in army of Gen. Forbes, 77 ; op-
ponent of land monopolies, 101 ;
connection of , with Mississippi Com-
pany, 106 ; inaugurated, 239 ; funeral
honors, 273 ; life of, in Latin, 303.

Wayne, Gen. Anthony, opinion of,
with regard to the mounds, 11 ; sub-
dues hostile Indians, 25 ; forms the
“Legion,” 248, 249, 255; camp at
Greenville, 252 ; precautions of, 252,
253 ; Indian names for, 253 ; victory
at rapids of Maumee, 255, 256 ;
commissioner, 257 ; speech of, 258 ;
one of founders of. the Northwest,
261.

Western Reserve, settled from Con-
necticut, 171 ; cession of, 225.

Western territories, temporary gov-
ernment of, 178, 183 ; powers of
governors in, 183, 184.

Western Virginia, cleared of hostile
forces, 371.

White-eyes, Capt., head war-chief of
Delawares, 138, 139 ; in council at
Pittsburgh, 141, 142 ; death of, 143.

Wieser, Conrad, speech of, 56.

Wilkinson, Gen., a mischief-maker,
309.

Williamson, David, merciless conduct
of, 157.

Wolfe, victory of, at Quebec, 77.

Wolverine war, 184.

Wood, Major E. D., Gen. Harrison’s
chief engineer, 333.

Worthington, opponent of St. Clair,
284; in Washington, 284,285,286;
agent of convention, 290, 292, 293 ;
speech of, when governor, 338.

Wyandots (Hurons), 20, 22 ; original
name of, 35 ; enter Ohio under
French protection, 45 ; council at
town of, 66 ; hostility of, 108 ; ap-
pear at Goschocking, 144, 145 ; losses
of, 256 ; peaceable and orderly, 315 ;

446

INDEX.

last tribe to remove from Ohio,

339.

Zane, Col. Ebenezer, reported advice
of, 200 ; contracts for road for mail
route, 267.

Zanesville, seat of government, 314 ;
described, 339.

Zeisberger, David, head of Moravian
missions in Ohio, 122 ; received by
Delaware chief, 127, 128, 129 ; visits
the Shawanees, 130 ; declines to at-
tend council of Six Nations, 141 ;
labors of, 159 ; death, 160.

Zinzendorf, Count, bishop of the Mo-
ravians, 122.

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